the Specialized Shinigami arc
by Batsukaman
Summary: Friends are made, confusion is cleared, and plots are revealed. By the light of the setting sun, a new era dawns for the shinigami. Main characters: Hitsugaya, OC. No real pairing! T for violence and slight language. See profile for setting info
1. It begins

Disclaimer- Just the fact that I wrote disclaimer should let you know that I don't own Bleach or make money off this.

X

Karakura town peacefully slumbered.

_We have no form, and therefore we fear it_

It was night time, and the moon shone brightly overhead. But for the echoing wind the street below was quiet as a small foot, encased in a white sock and straw sandal, landed on a telephone post. Hitsugaya looked out at the town, a few strands of hair hanging over the profile of his face.

_Hence the blade will be brought down again_

"Something really is going to happen, isn't it," he said, and leapt off of the telephone pole onto another one not far away. He pushed himself off of the pole that he had just touched down on without stopping, and leapt down towards the town.

_This time by the hand of a blade its self_

…

Kurosaki Ichigo was lying peacefully on his bed after a hectic day of school. At least, it was peaceful until a redheaded shinigami in a badly dressed gegai crashed through his window.

"Ichigo li-"

"RENJI!!"

"What?"

"One: you're paying for that. Two: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!???"

"You really are dense, aren't you. Can't you sense spirit force **at all**?" Renji replied, completely ignoring the first point.

"So I'm not as good at it as the rest of ya. Besides, just because I should've known you were coming doesn't give you an excuse to come at all!"

"That's not what I'm talking about. Last night this insane spirit force popped up out of nowhere."

"...oh yeah, I did notice that," Ichigo said, scratching his head.

"See? I _knew_ an idiot like you would be sitting here like nothing happened. So I-"

"Felt compelled to jump in through my window," Ichigo finished his sentence for him.

"Thoughts on the spirit force…?"

Ichigo thought for a moment. "Did Kenpachi come to town?"

"Kenpachi was already in town you idiot!"

"Oh…" said Ichigo with a weird look.

Renji stuck his face unnecessarily close to Ichigo's. "Don't give me that scardy-cat look!"

"What look? This is my face! Anyway, if it's not Kenpachi I got nothing."

"Some folks in soul society are working on it. We're gonna need someone to investigate it in the living world, so don't get you're hopes up for a relaxing week."

"I hadn't, trust me." It was only Monday and already chaos had ensued. Typical.

For the next two days Ichigo left his window open just incase. On the afternoon of the second day Renji climbed in through his window. He stuck his head directly over Ichigo's, smiled, and flamboyantly proclaimed "Suuuuup?" He'd left the clashing gegai at the Urahara store, but brought something else with him.

"Why is Yachiru on your back?"

"Because something about that scardy-cat look told me you didn't want me showing up with Kenpachi on my back," he said hoisting himself into the room.

"I told you that wasn't a loo-" he was then interrupted by a mental image of Kenpachi sitting on Renji's shoulder as Yachiru was now. "Uh, never mind. Any news from soul society?"

"Yeah. So far we know that it's a female eighth grader in the middle school your sisters go to. Now we need someone to actually go to the school and find out exactly who it is. Whoever goes will be in charge of finding out if she's for or against us, and if she's for then recruiting her for soul society." Yachiru dismounted from Renji's shoulder.

"Recruiting? Already?"

"Well last time we ignored a human with a lot of spirit force _you_ happened," Renji said with a grin that suggested he knew exactly how insulting his statement was.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Ichigo replied, with an equally challenging expression.

"Maybe it was, idiot!"

"But then Ken-chan would never have gotten a good fighting partner!" Yachiru said innocently. It was this point that Ichigo realized that she had been wrecking his room. Yachiru would seem to disappear and pop up somewhere else simultaneously, opening drawers and throwing things on the floor. Each time she did this Ichigo would make an "Ah-!" sound until a few seconds later he resolved to stop her. The next few moments were spent chasing Yachiru (who seemed to find this all quite funny) around the room. Eventually she found Kon (who, petrified, had been trying to be as still and inconspicuous as possible) and shrieking "It's the dog biscuit!" was content to sit and chew on his head.

"Good job Kon, way to make yourself useful," said Ichigo and resumed his talk with Renji. Kon, thick streams of tears running down his cheeks, mumbled something like "Nobody appreciates how valuable I am…" but no one paid attention.

"Anyway," said Renji, "who should we send?" Ichigo leaned back in his chair (Renji was sitting on the floor). "Hey, how about one of you're sisters?" Renji suggested.

"Only one of them knows I'm a shinigami, and I don't think she's very suited for the job. After all, if it's gonna be this person that first introduces our mystery kid to soul society and is possibly in charge of training them we want it to be a powerful shinigami."

"True. How about Rukia?"

"She's already enrolled in my high school. It would be too much trouble to change everything around."

"I'll do it!" Yachiru piped in.

"We could barely pass you off as a five-year-old human, let alone a 14-year-old human!" said Renji.

"What about Hanataro?" asked Ichigo.

"I thought we agreed that this would be a **powerful **shinigami. Besides, doesn't he have a job?" Both Ichigo and Renji began to pace. After a moment they both banged their hands down on whatever was closest to them and pointed at each other with open mouths and wide eyes. So it came to be that Ichigo knew three people attending Karakura Middle School: Kurosaki Karin, Kurosaki Yuzu, and Hitsugaya Toshiro.

X

A/N- CHA! There's the first chapter! Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment telling me what you think (or if I messed up on my grammar o.O')

EDIT: just so everyone knows, this is the worst chapter in the whole story. I'm serious. I made up like the first three chapters on the spot. If you read to chapter 5 you'll be able to tell that this actually _is_ a suspense story, and a pretty good one if I do say so myself. Please read on!


	2. A long first day

A/N-CHA! I've officially nicknamed myself AN'CHA! Because that's what it always looks like when I do an author's note. Captain Hitsugaia Toshiro may also be making some comments on here. His comments will be shown as CH/N. Oh, and if I misspell words of have bad grammar in the dialogue I'm doing it on purpose because that's how they're supposed to say it. Oh, and if I make a comment in parentheses I'll show it as (A/N-comment) meaning 'for those that don't know'

X

Hitsugaya was not having a very good day. Why? Because he was about to start his first day at Karakura Middle School. Just that was enough to make it a bad day. He should've expected that his day would get worse.

"'Nother new kid?" A girl with a red streak in her hair whispered to her friend about five feet from Hitsugaya.

"Yea, one after another. I bet they're taking over the world," said her friend, a girl who was looking away from Hitsugaya and drinking a soda.

"If they were taking over the world the new girl would've stayed in her own country you idiot!" said the girl with the red streak (unnecessarily loudly). Hitsugaya looked at them, slightly annoyed. They looked away and whistled. Well, the one with the red streak did, the one with the soda was laughing so much she could barely manage to make an 'O' shape with her mouth and hum. Which of course made both of them crack up. Hitsugaya turned away, a red vein symbol popping up above his left eyebrow. This was when the one with the soda first caught sight of Hitsugaya.

"NNEEEEEEEEWWW KKIIIIIIIDD!!!!!!!" There was suddenly an arm around Hitsugaya's neck that seemed intent on pulling his head off. Fortunately, the person that the arm belonged to stopped charging before that point.

"I love your hair! A weird color, but so fluffy!" At this the girl put down her soda and began patting Hitsugaya's head.

"Oh yea! I hadn't noticed!" said the girl with the red streak, and joined her friend in patting his head. It was going to be a long day. It was already a long day, and class hadn't even started yet.

"What's your name?" said the girl with the red streak (not pausing her patting of Hitsugaya's hair).

"Ca- um, Hitsugaya Toshiro," He said (with many floating vein symbols at this point).

"UNEXCEPTABLE!!!!" said the soda girl. "We must choose a more suitable name for you. How about Whitey-chan (A/N-'Shiro-chan')?"

"I would prefer Ca- Hitsugaya-kun."

"How about fluffy?"

"How about Hitsugaya-kun."

"No, no, I like fluff. Ok dude, that's your name from now on," the red streak girl piped in.

"No, my name's still Ca- Hitsugaya."

"Well you're gonna be fluff to us, square!"

"Tah-dah! I'd break my soda over you're head, like wine, like wine ya know, like to christen you and stuff, oh but anyway I think someone took it."

"No, you just threw it somewhere" Hitsugaya silently thanked the gods of carelessness upon hearing this. He had no doubts that she would do it.

"Oh. I mean I threw it somewhere."

"Oh, oh good job Kaneko."

"Gah!! Yes! We must for to the introducing!! I'm Igarashi Kaneko. I seriously don't care what ya call me. But if you don't call me by my name, call me something having nothing to do with my name," said the soda girl.

"Ok soda girl," said Hitsugaya, meaning to offend her. The two girls looked at each other in astonishment.

"Dude, you just figured out like her entire personality. Well, at least most of it. There's some pizza involved too. Right, I'm Kaori Sanjo. And I luff your hair!!!!" She said, resuming patting Hitsugaya's head. Kaneko had never stopped patting his head.

And so it came to be that Hitsugaya made his first two friends at Karakura Middle School.

Overall, Hitsugaya's classes had gone remarkably smoothly. He was pretending he had been home schooled for all his life, which served to explain his confusion in some subjects. Unfortunately for him (because this meant that he couldn't simply erase everyone's memories of that day and never go back) he hadn't been able to locate the source of the spirit force since the entire school seemed to be covered by it. He had been looking for it all day though and had found some interesting facts that might narrow it down. First, there was a small group of students who had been gaining spirit force very quickly, among them Kaneko and Sanjo. _It's possible that they're being affected like Ichigo's friends were,_ thought Hitsugaya. That meant that he just had to find a common friend of all those students. Then there was the fact that the rest of the students in the school (with the exception of Karin) seemed to have very low spirit force. There was even a new girl from America that seemed to have absolutely no spirit force at all. He knew that it wasn't really true though, they all just seemed small in comparison. Hitsugaya became aware of people walking behind him. He was suddenly dragged into an alleyway.

"Hey, albino. Nice hair." The boy who had spoken swung a fist at him, which grazed his shoulder as he jumped back. He was caught by another boy who held his arms crossed against his back. _Damn._ Ichigo had warned him that kids might go tough on him because of his hair color, but he hadn't expected anything like this. _Stupid gegai. _What could he do? His gegai's abilities were average in every way, he didn't stand a chance against these guys without using his soul slayer or demon magic. Which he couldn't do, of course. He was hit again, this time in the stomach. He was left gasping for breath. _Stupid gegai!_ In the midst of this he sill managed to notice that the spirit force he had been walking away as he left school seemed to be coming closer.

"Hey how come you get to have all the fun?"

"Yea, let us take a swing at 'em!"

"Take a swing at who?" said a female voice with an American accent. In the front of the ally stood a girl with black wavy hair and large violet eyes. Huh. Violet eyes. Weird. Hitsugaya suddenly realized that this girl was in his class. She had a challenging expression on her face.

"Uh, we're not doin' nothin'! We were just welcomin' the new kid, that's all!"

"Good. I think he's welcome enough, don't you?" her tone suggested that she was actually saying something along the lines of 'scram.'

"Uh, right, right. See ya some other time, Ayumu," one of the boys said, and they all scrambled out of the ally.

"Uh, thanks," said Hitsugaya, blushing a little. Being saved is so awkward if you're not fatally wounded. "How come those guys were so scared of you?"

"They tried to beat me up on my first day because of my accent. Let's just say I taught 'em a lesson," she said making a muscle pose.

"Well anyway, I owe you."

"Don't mention it." At this point something clicked in Hitsugaya's head.

"By the way, my name is Hitsugaya Toshiro."

"Masami Ayumu. Nice to meet you. Um, that's going to bruise if you don't put ice on it…"

"Oh, yea."

"You could come over to my house if you want." Ordinarily he'd turn down such an invitation, but there was something he needed to investigate.

"Thanks, that would be great."

"It's just around the corner," she said, turning to lead him to her building.

Ayumu's house was very nicely furnished, but her family was average in almost every way (she later explained that their American dollars had exchanged to a lot more yen than they had considered to be its value, but the stats don't lie). She knew that her family had moved back and forth between homes in America and Japan every so often for business, but this was her first time in the Japanese home (that she remembered, she was officially born in Japan). Her grandmother had lived in the Japanese house, so now she lived with them. They had sold the house in America, this time they were here to stay. Ayumu's grandmother seemed to be obsessed with tradition and family history, and insisted on showing Hitsugaya an incredibly extensive family tree. This would've been ridiculously boring, except for the funny little fact that Ayumu had somehow ended up with the same exact name as someone who had been born exactly 500 years before her own birthday. However, due to this Ayumu's grandmother went on to explain that the gene that caused Ayumu's violate eyes most likely entered the bloodline at this point because both her and her sister had them (although her sister's were a much darker shade) and blah blah blah and blah blah blah. Overall he learned two things of value: that besides her grandmother no one in Ayumu's family seemed to have noteworthy spirit force, and that the spirit force he had felt at school and in the ally seemed to coat Ayumu's house.

Sometime after dark he finally ended up back where he had started that morning, Ichigo's house. After leaving his bothersome gegai, he was greeted by a long and extremely annoying sequence of lateness jokes from Ichigo and Matsumoto (who considered this to be a long time coming).

"Where the hell were you?" Ichigo finally strait out asked.

"A girl invited me to her house."

"AAAWWWWWWW, CAPTAIN! I knew this would happen someday!" said Matsumoto, patting Hitsugaya on the shoulder enthusiastically. Horizontal blue lines accumulated on Hitsugaya's back and everything to his right.

"Not… like… that…" he said through his teeth, his eyebrow twitching.

"Are you sure????????" asked Matsumoto (considering tickling him under the chin, but deciding that she placed too much value in her life to do so).

"YES!!!"

"Anyway, find anything?" Hitsugaya hesitated for a moment.

"I have my suspicions."

X

A/N-CHA! I worked really hard on this part. Hope you like it!


	3. A casual invitation

CH/N-She's trying to torture me, isn't she.

X

Really there was nothing suspicious about her. He went over her appearance again in his mind. Her hair was shiny and moved in ways you wouldn't expect of curly hair. _But that's determined by shampoo, not spirit force._ Then there were her violet, extremely round eyes. _Still, her grandmother gave me that whole lecture on how it was 'in the genes,' and I do know that it can happen naturally…_

"Yo! I's mah fluff! How ya doin' fluff?" the evil-neck-breaking-arm was back, followed by the evil-head-patting-hands. _Well, that didn't take long._

"Hey, Kaneko, Sanjo. I'm fine." _Besides you showing up of course._ It wasn't really true. Having Kaneko and Sanjo was better than having no friends at all. Still, he wished that everyone would just shut up about his hair already. Everyone he had met it the last few days had commented about his hair. Ayumu's family had managed to get into an entire conversation about it (and how he gets it to stick up like that and whether or not it's naturally that color and more of blah blah blah. He eventually revealed that it just did that on its own, completely for the sake of shutting them up).

"We brought our gang. And by 'our gang' I mean this guy," said Sanjo pointing to a boy behind them. He was tall and thin, with very short black hair which was only about a centimeter long at its very longest in the front, smallish dark eyes, and a laid back smile and posture. Hitsugaya would learn a few moments later how misleading that smile and posture really were.

"Allow me to introduce myself!" he said, seeming to simultaneously pull his hands out of his pocket and twirl around dramatically with his arms outstretched. He came to a sudden halt with his left arm pointing toward Hitsugaya and his right arm stretched out behind him (The background was now yellow with thick orange lines circling his head). "I'm Raidon Yoshida, president of the drama club and eighth grade student!" he said enthusiastically, pulling himself into a solute.

"Hey! Raidon-kun!" called a voice from somewhere in the crowd of kids.

"Hmm? Coming!" he called back, then added to Hitsugaya "It would appear that I am needed elsewhere. We shall meet again." He took a theatrical-style bow, pivoted on his heel, and strode off in the direction of the voice. A few paces later he stumbled slightly, and, turning to Hitsugaya and pointing, called "And I'm totally not clumsy!"

"Hm. President of the drama club? I can tell," remarked Hitsugaya.

"Oh, yeah, he's like that," Sanjo replied.

"Where'd Kaneko go?"

"I think she went to get another soda."

"Is soda allowed in school?"

"No drinks with sugar are. It's ok, she'll finish it before we go in. Gonna dissolve her teeth someday…"

"What about juice?" He'd been given a serious briefing on living world drinks by Rukia before he left for school the day before, and he was determined to make sure it wasn't the total waste of time that he deep-down knew it was.

"Nothing that'd be sticky if we spilled it. I don't really like soda. Maybe I'll steal some of Kaneko's."

"Didn't you just say that you didn't like it?"

"Pfft, yeah, but I'm thirsty!" Hitsugaya's cell phone chose that moment to vibrate. It was very startling. He only realized what it was mere seconds from making a fool of himself. _A hollow? Now? _He mentally sighed. _I'm sure someone else will get it._ Still, he flipped open his phone. It was not a hollow, but a phone call. A phone call from someone far more dangerous to Hitsugaya than any hollow would ever be. Matsumoto.

"Hi, captain!"

"Hi Matsumoto."

"Hmmm, who's that?" asked Sanjo (who had just finished taking a swig of Kaneko's soda, which left them both making strange faces for different very reasons).

"Um, Just my-" _Careful now, how will it look if you say vice-captain?_ "-friend."

"Oh, cool," said Kaneko, and (to Hitsugaya's horror) they proceeded to take his phone, put it on speaker, and have the following conversation with Matsumoto:

"Hey, is this fluff's friend?" asked Sanjo.

"Fluff? Why, is that an affectionate nickname?" Matsumoto said on the other end.

"M-Matsumoto…" said Hitsugaya in a choked voice (blushing profusely) and buried his face in his hands.

"Yah, you cou say thah…" Kaneko tried to say with a mouthful of soda.

"Aw, give the poor guy back his phone!" Ayumu arrived just in time to save him again. Or so he thought.

"But I wanna talk to fluff's friend!" said Sanjo, and added to Hitsugaya "she sounds kinda old. Where do you know her from?"

"She… uh… lives near me-"

"Oh, I want to talk to her!" Ayumu said, taking the phone from Sanjo. Fortunately she took it off speaker phone, but that was about the only fortunate thing about it. And he could still hear Matsumoto…

"Are you another new friend of Hitsugaya-chan?" She had figured out by now that it would've been suspicious for him to call himself 'captain' and was relishing the opportunity to call him anything else.

"Yes, yes she is. Ok, bye now-" said Hitsugaya, taking back his phone.

"All of your friends are girls Hitsugaya-kun, are you hiding something from me?"

"NO. BYE." He said, flipping (slamming) his phone shut with such force that he almost dropped it. Almost. "You can't just take someone's phone while they're talking!" he said, turning to the three girls behind him.

"Aw, we didn't mean anything by it fluff!" said Sanjo patting Hitsugaya's head for the unknown-millionth time.

"Soooorryyyyyyy…" said Ayumu, making a combination hug/shoulder pat type of motion. Hitsugaya sighed. He was definitely in for another long day.

By the time Hitsugaya got to talk to Ayumu alone it was lunch. As the new kids they had automatically been labeled as friends, which neither of them really objected to it. Kaneko and Sanjo were off eating with Raidon somewhere. Hitsugaya was very perplexed by Ayumu's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After being forced to try some of it ("Food is the sustenance for life, Hitsugaya.") he casually asked "So, when did your family move here?"

"About a week ago," she answered and took a bite of her sandwich. Well that part matched up.

"Ayumu, do you want to come over to my house later?" _I'm sure Orihime won't mind. Although maybe I should bring her over to Ichigo's house, just incase._

"Uh, yeah, sure. Let me just call my mom and make sure it's ok." She took out her cell phone (which had a chibi panda ornament hanging from it) and after a quick call confirmed that she would go with Hitsugaya after school. At this point Kaneko appeared and dragged Ayumu off to settle a dispute over whether or not Raidon was unnecessarily dramatic ("It's totally necessary!"). Hitsugaya took this opportunity to call Ichigo's cell phone and explain the situation.

"Get Renji and Matsumoto to come too. If all works out well we'll know for sure by the end of tonight."

X

A/N-CHA! Sorry if you don't like this chapter, I don't think it's one of my best personally. I wanted to put something funny in but I wasn't sure what exactly it should say, which may explain the lack of any type of plot-resembling thing in the first part.


	4. This is my resolve

A/N-CHA! I came up with a key. Excluding the stuff you know from A/N (-CHA!) in other chapters, here's how to read my story:

In quotes, **bold,** _italic,_ underline, and CAPS LOCK are all for different types of emphasis. I can't explain the difference, but you probably know.

Out of quotes, _italic_ means that it's someone's thoughts. You probably knew that already, but whatever.

English words are shown as e-word/phrase-e. I know it's not pretty, but it's all I could think of.

The disclaimer that I wrote in the first chapter goes for all other chapters too.

X

It hadn't occurred to Hitsugaya that she might realize that this was Ichigo's house. Fortunately, she didn't. They had arranged it so that Ichigo's sisters were sleeping over at a friend's house and his father was out late (it wasn't easy either). Ichigo, Matsumoto, and Renji were planning to come in later. Hitsugaya was fairly confident that since it was Ichigo's light fixture he would have enough sense not to take it down and come in through the hole in the ceiling. Despite this he took an opportunity to tighten the screws as Ayumu explored the rest of the house. But it was time to get down to business. Hitsugaya was (for once) particularly thankful for his natural talent with acting, otherwise he could never pull this off.

"Ayumu?"

"Yes?"

"Um, I know that this is a weird question, but do you believe in ghosts?"

_What is this guy doing?_ Thought Ayumu. "Yeah but I'm not sure I believe in heaven."

"Hm?"

"Well if some place was that perfect then it would be boring, and if it was boring it wouldn't be perfect. The whole idea kind of collapses after you start thinking about it."

"Yea, I guess. It couldn't be perfect." Hitsugaya sat down and looked out the window, lost in thought about the meaning of perfection and the state of the world.

"More importantly, Hitsugaya."

"Yes?" He said, turning his head to look at her.

"Would you like an ice pop?" She said holding up a package which had thick red lines circling it. The corners of Hitsugaya's mouth dropped ever so slightly below his jaw, his eyebrow twitched, and his eyed closed. All together it conveyed his emotions quite nicely.

"We were talking about something serious here…"

"And ice pops aren't serious?"

"Uh… well… where did you even get those?"

"This street vendor was selling them, and it was pretty hot so I got some."

"How did I miss that?"  
"Don't know." Hitsugaya was suddenly struck in the chest by an ice pop.

"What was that for?"

"Um, I guess I thought you would catch it?" Hitsugaya mentally sighed. _Whatever._ He thought. _On with business._

"Listen, could you do me a favor?" he asked.

"Depends on what the favor is."

"Well, now bear with me this may sound kind of weird," Hitsugaya said, pulling two pieces of paper out of his pocket (one with writing on it and one without). "I want you to point your finger at this-" he said holding up the blank piece "-and read this out loud," he said giving her the piece with writing on it. "If you want to it would also be good to imagine a small ball of red flame coming out of your finger ." She thought for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but I won't do that," she said.

"Why not?"

"Well first of all because it's ridiculous, and second because I know that spell already and it'll do damage to a lot more than that paper." Hitsugaya considered this.

"Oh." He hadn't really anticipated that. Although- "I guess that saves me a lot of explaining then." And with that he reached into his bag, took out a red fingerless glove with a skull and flames on it, and shot himself out of his own gegai. Ayumu blinked at him several times as he took the glove off his gegai's hand and carefully put it back in his bag. "Uh, sorry, was that too forward of me?" asked Hitsugaya.

"No, no, it just kind of looked like you were punching yourself." Hitsugaya made an annoyed sweat drop. Ayumu didn't really notice.

"I thought I noticed something like that," she said. "So, this isn't really your house, is it?"

"Nope, this is my house," said Ichigo with a perfectly timed entrance (he'd been waiting outside the door for almost the whole time for a perfect moment to come in). That moment his eyes grew wide and he fell to his knees with an expression as though he had just realized something extremely important.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Ayumu said, rushing over to help him. Seeming to come to his senses, Ichigo insisted that he was fine (he had insist because once Ayumu asks you if you're alright she won't stop asking until you run a marathon to prove it) and got back to his feet.

"Knowing Ichigo it just means that he finally sensed your spirit force," Hitsugaya said.

"Whaddya mean 'finally' pipsqueak?"

"I was just sayin- '**PIPSQUEAK**?'" Hitsugaya's head seemed to fill the entire room. Blue fire came out of his mouth (which was filled with very sharp teeth).

"It was just a natural response to 'finally,' I didn't mean anything by it!" said Ichigo with a nervous sweat drop. Hitsugaya turned away from him with a 'humph' sound. Inside his head, the Hitsugaya monster ate Ichigo. He had never told anyone about the Hitsugaya monster. He made it up as a little kid and it became a little habit. The Hitsugaya monster looked like Hitsugaya, but he had a huge head, eyes (which were pointy and had no irises or pupils), and mouth (which was filled with a huge number of pointy teeth), and was completely navy blue with a white outline. It helped him to not say anything when people aggravated him to the point of murder by eating them. It was imaginary, of course.

Ichigo cleared his throat, eager for a change of subject. "So, you don't seem particularly startled by this," he said to Ayumu.

"Yeah, well. I kinda figured he wasn't normal, and seemed kind of like the e-death gods-e we had in America. I have to say though, the shinigami uniform is much cooler if not slightly less adapted to its purpose."

"Wait, what did you mean about shinigami in America? Are they different or somethin'?" asked Ichigo.

"Each country has its own version of Soul Society, so that languages and customs don't confuse people. During a Soul Burial the recipient automatically goes to the one that they most wish to, regardless of who sent them. You never noticed that everyone in Soul Society speaks Japanese?" Hitsugaya explained.

"Well… uh…"

"But Ayumu, what did you mean by more suited to the purpose?" asked Hitsugaya, who was not in a mood to tolerate anything that might resemble a put-down.

"Well they wear armor, which I figure would be better for fighting." This was followed by one of those sad moments where you want to argue but can't because the other person is exactly right. After a short silence Hitsugaya asked

"So were you a shinigami in America?"

"No, but I was trying to become one. I think I'd better switch from e-death god-e to shinigami now since we're here to stay. Will you guys help me?" Ichigo and Hitsugaya looked at each other.

"That's the second thing you've said today that saved us from having to give a long and awkward speech."

"So you'll do it?" she asked.

"Definitely," said Hitsugaya, and Ichigo nodded. She grinned up at them and, much to their surprise, she jumped up and tackle-hugged them both at once. Renji and Matsumoto chose that moment to come in.

"Perfect timing, we're just about _done_," Hitsugaya said bluntly, getting up off the floor (quickly followed by Ichigo and Ayumu).

"Sorry, Urahara-san made me clean up the store. I didn't know it was going to take **that** long," said Renji.

"Why were you on the floor?" asked Matsumoto.

"I, um, tackled them," said Ayumu rubbing the back of her neck and making a face that with a pointy-eyed smile and a sweat drop.

"More importantly Matsumoto, we know where Renji was, where were _you_?" asked Hitsugaya.

"I was waiting for Renji to pick me up." Renji stared at her, slightly annoyed.

"Pick you up? To walk over here?"

"We wanted to arrive together." Renji sprouted a red vein symbol on the right side of his forehead. Now he saw why Hitsugaya had that symbol so often.

"Which explains your new shoes." _That kid doesn't miss anything, does he,_ thought Renji.

"Oh, well, I um… you have every pair of shoes I own memorized, captain?" Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, in a way that made Matsumoto say "Yes captain, I went shopping," with a very defeated-looking pose. Hitsugaya sighed.

"Your mother is probably expecting you home soon," Hitsugaya said to Ayumu.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But when are you guys going to help me?"

"See if you can get your parents to let you come to the Urahara store every day after school. I'll give you directions," Hitsugaya said, pulling out a piece of paper and writing on it. After she took it (and thanked them profusely) Ayumu was off.

"So, is everyone going to help her train?" Ichigo and Renji nodded yes, and he hadn't really expected Matsumoto to volunteer anyway. "Well, that's good enough. We should probably get some other strong guys, maybe from the eleventh squad, to come too just incase."

"Why, you don't think I'm strong enough?"

"I could take her easy!" As Renji and Ichigo argued Hitsugaya mentally sighed (again). _Best not to fight with them._

"What if one or both of you has to do something else?" Spying an opportunity, Matsumoto said

"To do my part I will personally get Ikkaku and Yumichika to help!"

"Why thank you for all your effort, Matsumoto."

When Ayumu got outside it was already dark. Just because she was happy, she ran from Ichigo's house to the street corner. When she got there she slowed down. Looking up at the moon she thought about the people that she had just encountered. _Ichigo, Renji, Hitsugaya,_ she thought, visualizing their faces as she said their names. A soft breeze blew a few hairs across her face. _Those guys are strong, I can tell. You'll see. I'll train hard, I'll work past my limits, and I'll become strong like you are. Ichigo, you seemed the strongest. You pushed the hardest, you were the most determined to reach your goal. Ichigo, I'm not sure you can beat me, but don't hold back. Push forward. I'll watch you fight, I'll watch you become stronger, and maybe I can learn. I promise you all, I will become strong._ And with that she was off and running again.

"Mom, you know my new friend Hitsugaya?" Ayumu asked after dinner.

"Yes, what about him?"

"He offered to tutor me in Japanese."

"You know a lot of Japanese though."

"Yeah, but some kids can't understand my accent."

"Well it's fine with me. When?"

"He wants to know if I can go over every day after school."

"Alright, as long as you think you can get your homework done."

"I'm sure I can. Thanks mom, you're the best!" and with a kiss to her mother's cheek she ran off to call Hitsugaya.


	5. A glimpse of the sword

A/N-CHA! Sorry this one took me soooo long. I hope it ends up as good here as it did in my head! Oh, and I know that Toshiro and Hanataro can also be spelled with an -ou at the end, but I'm going to stick with this spelling. I'll be going away so the next chapter won't come out for at least three weeks. Unless I write another one before I leave, which I doubt. Still, I might.

X

Hitsugaya was the third-to-last person to enter the Urahara shop on the first day of training. And he was the fifth person in a row to be shot out of their gegai by Urahara Kisuke the second that they walked through the door.

"I was perfectly capable of doing that myself, Urahara-san," said Hitsugaya.

"So was I!" said Ikkaku, running up to give Urahara a flick in the back of the head. He would've done a lot more than that had he not been already instructed to stay away from unnecessary fights.

"He's doing that to everyone," said Renji.

"I'm sorry, but the look on Ichigo's face was just so irresistible that I had to do it again!"

"You could give a guy a little warning!" said Ichigo in the same exact tone as Ikkaku before he'd flicked Urahara.

"Yes, please! I was afraid it might bruise, that would've been awful…" said Yumichika, rubbing his cheekbone where he'd been struck by Urahara's cane.

"Yo!" said Ayumu coming in through the window.

"I told you that a middle schooler coming in through the window was conspicuous," Ikkaku muttered to Hitsugaya.

"Sorry, I had to do it. I didn't want that hat guy coming after me with his crazy cane."

"I think that description suits Urahara quite nicely," Said Yourichi, emerging in her from the shadows in her human (well, human-looking) form. She was fully clothed (now, which Ichigo was extremely grateful for. She couldn't resist changing into her human form after Ichigo got there, just to see the look on his face. Apparently Ichigo makes very funny faces).

"Wow!" said Yumichika, running over to greet Ayumu. "Your hair is so beautiful!" he said, picking up a few strands of it to look at them more closely.  
"Um, thanks, it's genetic. So…" Yumichika leaned against the wall with a dark atmosphere around him, depressed at being ignored. Suddenly Yourichi walked up to Ayumu. She bent down and examined her face in great detail, every few moments making a "hmmm" sound. When she finished sizing Ayumu up, she stood upright and declared her conclusion: "I don't like you."

"What? Why?" said Ayumu, bringing her curled fingers up to her chin.

"I don't know. I just don't." Ayumu thought for a moment. "I see. So you must actually be a cat." At this Yourichi's eyes became white heavily outlined circles, and a few vertical lines appeared on her forehead. The background became a bluish color and everyone other than Yourichi and Ayumu gathered in a corner. "Her intuition's really sharp…" said Ichigo, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Wh-where did that come from?" said a still startled Yourichi.

"Cats don't like me. I had one cat that liked me, and then the rest I've met thought I was prey or a waste of their space." Yourichi contemplated this for a moment. Suddenly, closing her eyes, smiling, and obtaining a peach sparkling background, Yourichi said "Oh! Well if that's all it is then I'm sure we can overcome it! My name's Yourichi! Let's be _friends_!" As they shook hands Ayumu couldn't help but notice how terribly insincere she sounded.

"Um… well… I'm glad that's all straitened out… are we going to fight now?" Ayumu asked nervously.

"I like this kid. She's got the right attitude," said Ikkaku.

"Why yes! We should definitely be going down about now!" said Urahara with an enormous grin, pointing at the trapdoor enthusiastically with both hands.

"'Down'?" said Ayumu.

About a minute later Ayumu, Renji, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yourichi, Urahara, Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta were standing at the bottom of an extremely long latter in an extremely large room.

"Ooh, boulders. I wonder how they got down here?" asked Ayumu. Urahara and Tessai were not moved by this reaction. A thought suddenly occurred to Ichigo.

"Hey, Urahara!" he called, sounding unusually evil. "You're not gonna drop her down the big hole, are you?"  
"No, she seems to have enough spirit force."

"But you were going to, weren't you!" Ichigo said. He then firmly planted his palm on Urahara's face and gave him a strong shove. As Urahara cowered (covering his face with his hands and muttering about how unexpected that was) Ichigo loomed above him and said "After all you put me through, you were really gonna do that again!"

"But that's not important right now, is it?" said Urahara, getting up and opening his fan with another big grin.

"So, a_re_ we gonna fight?" asked Ikkaku eagerly. Avoiding unnecessary fights was not his strong point, and he wanted to get into a necessary one as soon as possible.

"Oh, wait. I just realized… I don't know you guys," she said, using four fingers of the same hand to point at Urahara, Tessai, Ikkaku, and Yumichika. Jinta jumped up in protest that she'd shown no interest in meeting him and Ururu just figured that she was included with Urahara. Hitsugaya slapped his head and thought _She just realized?_

"Right, right, how rude of us not to introduce ourselves! I am Urahara Kisuke. Charmed to meet you! I'm sure you must've heard so much about me."

"Um, not really," said Ayumu with a nervous laugh.

"I see…" said Urahara, rather disappointed that he wasn't at least locally famous.

"I am Tsukabishi Tessai, proud comrade and personal assistant to Urahara Kisuke."

"Hello!"

"I'm Madarame Ikkaku. Better watch yourself, or I'll kill you!" he said enthusiastically, drawing his sword and pointing at her. Ayumu (upon noting that this was a far cry from a handshake) let out a nervous laugh, a few sweat drops appearing on her forehead.

"I am the most beautiful shinigami in the 13 squads, Ayasegawa Yumichika."

"Wow…" Ayumu started awestruck. "Say that three times fast." Three thick triangular yellow lines appeared momentarily with a 'ding' sound seeming to originate from Yumichika's head. He then repeated his previous motion of leaning against the wall. He wasn't having a very good day. It was then that the last person to enter the Urahara shop came down the latter.

"Um, I hope you don't mind Urahara-san, I left my gegai upstairs. I saw the trapdoor was open so I figured that everyone must be down here…" said Hanataro, his eyes closed in a slightly nervous gesture.

"Oh, someone else I don't know! Pleased to meet all of you, my name is Masami Ayumu." Hanataro opened his eyes just as she said this. In his mind, she was surrounded by pink sparkles, and on a pink background full of flowers.

"P-pleased to meet you too, m-my name is Yamada Hanataro. Pleased to meet you," said Hanataro, only realizing that he had said 'pleased to meet you' twice a few seconds later. And then they were shaking hands. It was quite possibly the happiest moment of Hanataro's sadly crushless young life.

"Oh, I should get out of my body," said Ayumu suddenly, taking a small green pill out of her pocket and putting it in her mouth. Almost instantly there seemed to be two of her standing there. Her soul, unlike most humans, was not the exact image of her body with the chain of fate to connect them. Instead of her school uniform, she was dressed in a blue spaghetti-strap tank top and matching capris which tucked in at the bottom. The chain of fate was missing as it is in all shinigami. Everyone but Ichigo had predicted something like this, and he struggled to regain his balance without making a fool of himself. "e-I want you to stay up there.-e" Ayumu said, turning to her still standing body and pointing to the now distant trapdoor. Her body turned around and looked at the trapdoor, her line of vision slowly moving down the ladder until she was looking back at the floor. She then turned to Ayumu and said "Heeeeeehhh?" Ayumu gave her a surprised look. Her body pointed up at the trapdoor. "e-It's _just_ a_ speck_!Why do _I_ have to climb up the big latter?" Ayumu sighed, a little white sigh mark shaped like a puffy mushroom moving slowly away from her mouth. "e-Just do it…-e" grumbling, her body scooted up the latter. No one there had ever seen anyone climb a latter with so much attitude.

"You know, for a cheap price I could fix that so it speaks Japanese," said Urahara.

"I didn't come here to have people try to sell me stuff…" said Ayumu, sounding a bit fed up.

"So, _are we gonna fight???_" asked Ikkaku, getting annoyed.

"No, we're not!" said Hitsugaya, stepping forward. Ikkaku looked heartbroken. "It might not be necessary." He then turned to Ayumu. "You said before that you knew the spell 'blue fire crash down.' Please perform it for us."

"I said red fire, but I'm better at blue fire anyway. But like, seriously, or ooh-pretty-colors-ly?" asked Ayumu, sounding a bit surprised.

"Um, seriously?" He wasn't sure what 'ooh-pretty-colors-ly' meant, but he was almost positive that it wasn't what he had in mind.

"Oh," Ayumu said after a moment. "Um, I'm going to go over here," she said, motioning to the other wall of the room. As she walked Hitsugaya wondered whether she had processed anything just said. "I hope you don't mind, I need to recite it in English for now," she said, turning to look back at them.

"That's fine, as long as it works." Ayumu closed her eyes and lowered her head. She extended her right arm, her wrist moving so that her palm faced the wall. She placed her left hand near her right shoulder and began to recite softly.

"e-Oh rulers. He who wears the mask of flesh and bone, and has 10,000 fluttering wings, scratch your nails against the wall of a dream which knows no sin.-e" The entire room was then filled with a pale light which was more white than blue, and a strong sudden wind blew back from where Ayumu was standing. Everyone braced themselves and blocked their eyes. Hitsugaya slowly brought his arm down and opened his eyes just enough that just a thin slit of his turquoise irises was visible in the pale blue light. Bright flames danced up and down the entire wall, lashing out at any surface that had the misfortune to touch them. Silhouetted in the flames was Ayumu's seemingly tiny form, her hair pushed back almost violently by the strength of the wind. She had not shifted her stance, and yet she seemed much more powerful facing the backdrop of flickering blue fire. Slowly the flame shrunk and died down, leaving the wall it had previously occupied steaming and almost red in some areas. Immediately following this was an awkward silence.

"Well," said Hitsugaya, attempting to come up with some sort of comment. "I guess language doesn't matter then…"

"I'm frickin' blind," Renji commented. Most people were quick to agree, but Hanataro seemed strangely defensive.

"Sorry about that, I probably should have told you to close your eyes first," said Ayumu.

"More importantly," said Hitsugaya (who considered himself to be the leader of this endeavor and the most mature one there, which was why he did most of the talking) "that was definitely of captain class. How long have you been able to do something like that?"

"It's always been like that, ever since I learned the spell."

"I don't understand it," said Hitsugaya, more to himself than anyone else. "Someone who's not a shinigami shouldn't be able to create much of a blast at all, let alone something like that."

"Well my e-death god-e friends in America tutored me, so it's not like that just happened on its own. And I might as well be a shinigami. You probably already figured that I can beat hollows well enough, and I've done a soul burial once or twice, the seal shows up on my thumb. I even know my soul slayer's name. Really all I'm missing is the actual sword." Hitsugaya's eyes opened wide and he swallowed hard. His hands curled into fists. Nobody seemed to notice his reaction. Most people were wearing matching 'ya lost me' or 'very interesting' expressions. The only one who had anything close to his reaction was Ururu, who wore an expression of mild surprise. Hitsugaya quickly regained his composure.

"Alright Madarame, we can fight now," said Hitsugaya.

"Yahoo!" said Ikkaku, jumping up in the air.

"First, can I have a word with all of you?" Hitsugaya asked, looking at the shinigami and company who surrounded him.

"He has to tease me doesn't he…" said Ikkaku, joining the forming huddle.

"You were included in that, Urahara-san," Hitsugaya said.

"We plan on just spectating," said Urahara, referring to himself, Tessai, Yourichi, Ururu, and Jinta.

"Of course you do." Hitsugaya said.

"Um, Kisuke-san…" said Ururu. Urahara turned to look at her from under his hat. "If you don't mind, I would like to fight."

"Yeah, sure," said Urahara, a little surprised.

"Alright." Hitsugaya then addressed the group that had gathered around him. "We should start out surrounding her. We'll probably need to use full force, but start out in shikai. I'm almost sure that it one of us cuts her that'll be enough."

"Man, I'm not invited," Ayumu muttered to herself. She stood with her back to the group, her hands in her pockets, and kicked a small rock.

"Alright," said a voice behind her. People had begun to spread out, and soon they had formed a near perfect circle around Ayumu. Hanataro hadn't joined the circle, but no one really expected him to fight anyway. There were a few seconds of mounting tensions and sideways glances. Suddenly Ichigo began to run forward, reaching up and grabbing the hilt of his sword at the same time. He pulled Zangetsu off his back and turned the motion into a downward slash. It was almost horizontal before Ayumu moved. Her motion seemed more like a dive than a duck, jumping head and hands first into the ground. She planted her palm on Ichigo's foot, her wrist facing his leg. She turned the rest of her body around so that she faced him and caught Zangetsu (which was now totally horizontal) between her feet. Then she pushed off of Ichigo's foot sideways, turning on Zangetsu like an axis, twisting his arm and forcing him to let go. She was now level with Ichigo's face. Her legs extended as she pushed off Zangetsu, both propelling herself forward and sending Zangetsu flying strait back (narrowly missing Renji's head). She placed her hand firmly on Ichigo's head and slammed him into the ground.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" The links seemed to stretch out in slow motion. A light footstep landed on the space between the links closest to the hilt, and a second later a much firmer one landed on Renji's shoulder. That was enough time. A streak of blue light raced towards Ayumu destroying everything in it's path. _'Not much you can do about this one,' _said a slightly echoing voice that only Ayumu heard. The Getsuga Tensho passed through empty space where it's target had been just moments ago, and ended up slamming into a large rock.

"Damnit Ichigo, that almost hit me!"

"Well maybe you should move next time!"

"Why I oughta-"

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" The temperature fell as dark clouds formed overhead. A shining ice dragon streaked through the new darkness toward Ayumu. Her hair fell in front of her face, the shadow blocking her eyes from view. Slowly she brought her arm up to face the oncoming force. It was almost silent but for the shattering sound, as though it were glass instead of ice that now fell slowly to the floor once the dragon had left it behind. It was a dead standstill. The great ice dragon had come to a halt upon contact with Ayumu's outstretched hand. Hitsugaya was more powerful, but slowly Ayumu's spirit force began to rise. Not the chaotic whirlwind of power usually used in a fight, but a quietly controlled one poised to attack at any moment. The eye of the storm.

"That thing kinda looks weird when it's not moving," said Renji, not seeming to notice the tension.

"What are you standing around staring for? Get on with it!" said Hitsugaya without shifting his gaze.

"Got it. Ban Kai!" There was a burst of light and a large dust cloud was kicked up, shortly followed by a calm voice saying "Tensa Zangetsu."

"Grow, Houzukimaru!"

"Bloom, Fujikujaku!"

"Ban-"

"Not you, Abarai! Your Bankai destroys more than actually cutting. We don't want that," Hitsugaya reminded him.

"Got it," he said. Ururu punched the air in front of her, feeling slightly left out.

"Go! I'm pulling back!" In a flash Ichigo had come up behind Ayumu and slashed at her from the side. Ayumu ducked and in the same motion swung her leg out at Ichigo's feet hoping to trip him.

"Nice try!" He leapt over her, stabbing at her from overhead. She rolled out of the way and stood up, aiming a kick at his chest as she got to her feet. It just grazed his shoulder, but that was all the convincing he needed. He leapt back. _This isn't good; she's having no trouble keeping up with me. She was moving almost as fast before her spirit force rose anyway… Damn. I've got to do it._ Ikkaku took over the fight, glad to finally get a chance. Ichigo hadn't wanted to do this for fear of how people would react. After all, he had almost beaten Renji's captain like this. And there was Ururu, who went crazy at the slightest bit of unusual spirit force. Still, if they wanted to cut her it was their only option. Ichigo held his hand in front of his face, his fingers bent, his features obscured in shadow. Ikkaku stabbed at Ayumu with Houzukimaru. Ayumu dodged and placed her right hand on the staff, raising her right leg over her head. Ichigo slowly raked his fingers over his face. Ayumu brought her foot down hard on Ikkaku's hands and simultaneously pulled Houzukimaru from his grasp. Ichigo pulled his hand back to reveal the mask that he had once been so frightened of. "Alright!" He took a step forward to begin charging, but before he got even two steps he was stopped.

"Danger." Ururu had jumped in front of him and was now aiming a kick at his head. He dodged it, not wanting to become part of the large crater which had formed behind him upon contact with Ururu's foot. Jinta and Tessai then sprung into action. It took both of them to restrain her.

"Sorry about that," Jinta said, still struggling with Ururu, "do your thing dandelion boy!"

"Yeah-"

"Take off the mask, Ichigo." It was Hitsugaya who had spoken, his voice shaking. Ichigo was confused by this. Did the mask somehow obstruct them cutting her? "Take the mask off, or I'll really have to kill you!"

"What?" Ichigo now definitely recognized the threat in his voice. But why-

"I'll do it! Ban Kai!" There was a huge flash of light and the temperature dropped several degrees. And yet there were no wings, no ice flowers, no tail. In fact, there was no sword. It shattered in Hitsugaya's hand. Instead, when the light cleared it was just him, though he had changed. His sleeves were now short, and though his pants weren't exactly tight they now had fewer folds. Even the captain's jacket had changed; it was now tucked into his belt, the bottom edge hanging just a bit below his hips. But the most noticeable difference was on his body its self. A large dragon tattoo snaked its way around his skin, its long body visible on his arms and its head sliding in from around his neck onto his cheek. Strangely he didn't seem to notice. He began to charge towards Ichigo.

"When did captain Hitsugaya's Bankai-" then everyone was cut off from anything that they were doing. The world seemed to go black and white, little spikes like static appearing in everyone's line of vision.

"You know," said Ayumu, turning to face Ichigo, "ever since that time," a mental image came to Ayumu's mind. It was of a woman. She was thin with a long neck and pointy fingers. Her hands were up around the level of her shoulders and her fingers fanned out. She had faded yellow hair, but the way it shined made it look more like golden thread. But the extraordinary thing about her was her face. Her face was narrow, with close-set eyes which slanted diagonally down towards her nose. Her eyebrows were thin, and traced the top outline of yellow circular tattoos around her eyes. Her long, pointed nose seemed to lead right into her mouth. Her mouth was curved into a great smile which seemed to split her head up to the ear. Each of her teeth was long and sharp enough to be a fang. Her tongue (which she licked her lips with) was ridiculously long (if she wanted to she could probably lick her eye like a gecko) and came to a sharp point at the end. On her head she wore a headband adorned with what appeared to be a miniature replica of a human skull which rested just above her forehead. She let out a sound between chuckling and cackling. The image was gone. "I haven't really been afraid of hollows. Still," Ayumu's eyes fixed themselves upon Ichigo, "I guess that means I've just got to kill you." Her spirit force had grown and gotten sharper. Hitsugaya noticed. _Her spirit force right now it at least three times mine. Even though it's only because of the limit, that's still ridiculous! I'm in Bankai! _Ayumu charged at Ichigo. As she got closer she made a motion to hit him. But although her hand grasped nothing but air, the movement was definitely a slash. There was a glint of silver, and Ichigo instinctively brought up his sword to block it. In her hand Ayumu held a thin round piece of what appeared to be ivory. It was as though someone had cut a rectangular piece and then rounded off the corners so that it was the perfect size to fit in her palm. Fixed to the end was a gourd ornament and coming protruding off of that was a long thin red feather. In her other hand was another piece of ivory which was much longer but otherwise the same as the other piece, they looked as though they were originally the same piece but were then cut apart. The longer he looked at the shorter piece the more Ichigo realized that something invisible protruded from it, The form of something long and thin flickered as hollows do for those who can't really see them. Only after taking all of this in did he realize that this was the hilt and sheath of a sword. A crack formed in Tensa Zangetsu. He jumped back.

"Ok!" Ichigo said, pulling the mask off his face and letting go of it. It shattered as soon as it left contact with his hand. "There, see? All better! Everyone happy?" Hitsugaya and Ayumu sat down where they stood, and Ururu stopped struggling. Hitsugaya returned to his unreleased form and Ayumu put the two pieces of ivory together. Sure enough they seemed to make one solid piece.

"I think we're done for today…" he said standing up.

"Oh my god!!!" Ayumu said, rushing over to Ichigo. "I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you guys? Seriously, what was that all about?" he said, returning to shikai.

"I honestly have no clue. I've never done anything like that before," Hitsugaya said, looking genuinely confused.

"Yeah, and what happened to your Bankai? Frankly I was kind of looking forward to it, it's so beautiful!" Ayumu sweat dropped at Yumichika when he said this, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know about that either," said Hitsugaya looking at the floor. "But," he said eager for a change of subject "what was that you attacked Ichigo with?" he asked motioning to the long thin piece if ivory in Ayumu's hand.

"This is the beginning of my soul slayer. That's the farthest I've ever gotten with it, it wouldn't open at all before today. But," she said, pulling it apart again "apparently opening it doesn't do much good."

"What if you call its name?" asked Urahara, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages.

"That's how I get this," she said motioning to the transparent blade. "Although it kind of shines if you hold it up to the light," she said, holding it up above her head and changing it's angle as she might do when trying to reflect light onto the walls from a mirror. Hitsugaya furrowed his brow as though he'd just heard an important clue in a murder mystery that no one else had noticed.

"Well in any case, if we're done then we should go back upstairs. It'll look weird from the outside to just have a girl in a middle school uniform watching the shop, not to mention a bunch of unconscious bodies," said Yourichi, who really just wanted everyone to stop concentrating on Ayumu.

When they got upstairs Ayumu's body was chewing gum and reading a magazine.

"e-Don't chew gum! I always get stuck with the no-flavor-left aftertaste.-e"

"e-I was gonna swallow it just to spite you but it was my last piece,-e" she said, tearing off a little piece of the magazine and spitting her gum out.

"e-How do you have any pieces? You're a little green pill!-e" her body didn't appreciate this comment, and showed this by retrieving a red fingerless glove out of Ayumu's pocket and forcefully removing herself from her body.

"You should really put that stuff somewhere safer than in your pocket," Ichigo said as Ayumu got back into her body.

"Yeah, I know," she said rubbing her eye.

"Might I speak to you?" Hitsugaya asked her after everyone had gotten back into their gegais/bodies.

"Yeah, sure." She got up and they walked to the other side of the room.

"Alright," said Ichigo as soon as they were out of earshot "who has any clue what that was about?"

"Ururu had a similar reaction, so it probably had something to do with your spirit force," Urahara pointed out.

"Yeah, but they said that was the first time it happened to either of them," Renji pointed out.

"We should run some tests on your spirit force when you've got that mask on to see if there's any reason it should make them go crazy like that," Yourichi said, and Urahara and Ichigo agreed.

"Do you kind of get the feeling that they're talking about us?" Ayumu asked from across the room.

"Yeah, well we did give them something to talk about. Meanwhile, what do you think happened?"

"Well I did have something like that a long time ago because this scary woman was attacking me and my friend, but I'm not quite sure how they're related."

"'This scary woman?'"

"I'm not really sure how else to describe her." There was a short silence. "I do still feel bad about it though."

"Yeah. I'm going to apologize."

"Ok, me too."

"You did already."

"I always apologize more than once." By now everyone was just wandering around the shop. Ichigo was leaning against the wall drinking a juice box. Hitsugaya and Ayumu walked up to him.

"Hm?"

"Please forgive me," Hitsugaya said, sounding as though Ichigo probably never would.

"We didn't mean anything by it."

"I genuinely don't know why that happened, but I promise it will never happen again." Ichigo closed his eyes and put the arm not holding the juice box behind his head.

"I told you already, didn't I? It's _fine_. Don't make such a big deal out of it. I didn't really expect to get a good reaction anyway. They're gonna do some tests tomorrow to see why you guys reacted like that, so you might want to stay away from the shop. Now you," he said shifting his gaze to Ayumu, "go talk to Hanataro, he's staring at you." Hanataro made a 'wahhh' sound and tripped over something.

"Are you alright?" Ayumu asked running over to help him up. Hitsugaya just sighed and shook his head.

…

"Well, overall I'd say that was a success." It was about twenty minutes later, and the only one left in the shop who wasn't going to stay there was Hitsugaya. Everyone but he and Urahara had retreated into the back rooms. "Um, Urahara-san?"

"Yes?"

"After what happened today I plan to continue training with my Bankai. I was wondering if perhaps you would be so kind as to lend me your basement?"

"Of course, but I'll be using it tomorrow."

"Well, I guess I have to go to school tomorrow anyway. Thank you so much," Hitsugaya said turning to leave.

"Why would you go-" Urahara started, then realized that he knew something about school that Hitsugaya didn't. _Maybe it would be better not to tell him, just to see what happens._ "Um, never mind." Hitsugaya left the shop and slid the door closed behind him.

X

A/N-CHA! There you go then. In my opinion it's my best chapter yet. Hope you like it! But man! This thing's nine pages in Microsoft Word! That's a flippin' _book_ for me!!!


	6. What it feels like

A/N-CHA! It's character development time. Hey, do students in Japan actually get the weekend off? I know they have a shorter summer break…

X

Hitsugaya Toshiro was standing in front of the school that he hadn't been able to get out of going to. Today he was very confused. He was confused because the school appeared to be closed for no reason at all. _Is it a holiday or something? Are we under attack?_ He wondered, placing his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"Hitsugaya?" He turned his head to look at the source of the familiar voice.

"Ayumu? Why aren't you wearing your uniform?" Ayumu was wearing a white shirt with a wing design on it and a pair of cargo pants. Instead of her schoolbag she had a much smaller bag which hung around her shoulder and rested on the opposite hip.

"We have the day off," she said sounding a bit surprised.

"Then why are you here?"

"Well I live right there," she said motioning to her apartment building, "and I was just going to get breakfast at this place right near here."

"Why would we have the day off? Is something special happening?"

"Well it's the weekend…" Hitsugaya raised his eyebrows at this.

…

A few minutes later they were sitting at a booth in a place that was a cross between a café and a fast food place.

"So you're telling me that we don't have to go to school just because of what day of the week it is?"

"That's pretty much the idea, yeah." At that moment a small waiter came to bring them their food. By a strange coincidence…

"Hanataro?"

"Eh? Oh, hi!"

"Why don't you join us?" Ayumu offered patting the seat next to her.

"Oh, thank you, I'm sure my boss won't mind if I take a little break, she's really nice," he said, and (blushing like a tomato) slid into the booth next to Ayumu.

"Don't you work at a convenience store?" Hitsugaya asked him.

"Well I did, but then I went back to soul society of a while and I got this job when I came back."

"Excuse me, I'm going to go get a drink," Ayumu said, and Hanataro slid out of the booth to let her get up. She walked over to a refrigerated area with shelves of drinks (like those one might find in a supermarket) and began seriously contemplating her beverage future. Hanataro looked at her for a few moments and then turned back to Hitsugaya.

"Um, captain Hitsugaya?"

"Hmm? What is it?" Hitsugaya responded, looking up from playing with a clip on his bag. Hanataro hesitated for a moment.

"Are you and Ayumu-chan here… together?"

"Well we came in together and we're sitting together, so yes, we're here together," he said leaning on the table.

"I see…" said Hanataro, sounding terribly disappointed. There was a moment of silence. Suddenly Hitsugaya sat up strait, his eyes open wide.

"Oh. Oh, did you mean, like, _dating_?" He asked, putting the first fingers of both hands together.

"Y-yes…" Hanataro said, blushing and bringing his shoulders up to his ears.

"NO!" Hitsugaya said, putting so much emphasis on it that he almost fell out of his seat.

"Oh, ok!" said Hanataro, suddenly much more cheerful. Hitsugaya leaned in closer and lowered his voice.

"You like her, don't you."

"Eh-well-er-me?"

"No, the table. Yes you!" Hanataro blushed even harder and his mouth became a squiggly line. That counted as an answer in Hitsugaya's book. "Don't worry, she's all yours," he said, leaning back in his seat and putting one arm behind his head. Hanataro's mouth returned to normal.

"Oh, don't you and Ayumu-chan go to school during the day?"

"Apparently we don't have to just because it's a certain day of the week. I'm not complaining, I'd definitely rather not go."

"Yeah, I know right?"

"Learning's such a drag." Two girls had popped up from the seat behind him and turned to face him as they said this. One was drinking soda out of a large cup with a plastic top and a hole for the straw, the other had a red streak in her hair.

"You guys are just following me, aren't you."

"Not really," said Raidon, who was sitting across from Kaneko and Sanjo.

"Wow! It's like coincidence city in here today!" said Ayumu, returning with some sort of fruit drink that was mostly sugar in a clear plastic bottle.

"Uh, sure?" said Sanjo. There was a few seconds of silence in which Kaneko drank some of her soda and absolutely nothing else happened. "Um, ok then, bye…" Sanjo said, and they both slid back down into their seats. When Hanataro looked back at Hitsugaya, there was something wrong. He was gripping the table so hard that his knuckles were white, and his arm was shaking ever so slightly. His jaws were clenched, and his eyes were wide beneath contracted eyebrows. Ayumu also looked tense.

"Hey? You in there?" Sanjo asked Raidon as Kaneko waved her hand in front of his face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, just zoning out," he said looking back at her. He had been looking off to his right, a troubled expression on his face. _What's this feeling? _He thought, keeping his expression blank. _I have to find out what's there. I have to make sure everyone's alright._ "Sorry, I got to go. I just remembered something, and I want to do it before I forget. I'll see you guys later," he said with a smile, standing up.

"Ditcher!" Kaneko said as he got up. After he took a few steps a young hand caught his elbow. Before he had a chance to say anything Hitsugaya turned and dragged him into the bathroom.

"Captain Hitsugaya can be awfully violent sometimes, can't he?" Hanataro asked.

"Yeah, but I can see why he's on edge." Hanataro thought about this for a moment.

"I see, they're doing the test now, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

Once inside Hitsugaya took Raidon by the front of his shirt and pushed him up against the wall. "Where were you really going?" he asked.

"You didn't have to drag me in here to ask me that!"

"Answer the question!" there was a short moment when they stared at each other intensely. _If I'm ever going to do it, it has to be now,_ Raidon thought. He closed his eyes, sighed, and put his hand in his pocket. Then, without warning, he brought his hand out of his pocket (already curled into a fist) and punched Hitsugaya in the stomach. Hitsugaya slid back, and then suddenly realized that his gegai was on the floor in front of him. "How did you-" Raidon opened his fist to reveal a piece of paper which had been folded in half until it was a small rectangle. He began to unfold it. When he was finished he turned it around to show Hitsugaya what was on it. Drawn on the paper and colored in with markers was a design of a skull surrounded by blue flame. "Where did you learn about that?" Hitsugaya asked him.

"I doodled it one day and touched it by accident." _That feeling's gone._

"Oh," said Hitsugaya with a dinging sound and a major decrease in posture. Obviously he had been expecting a more profound answer. He seemed to be a lot less tense all of a sudden.

"It must've taken a lot of skill to act like a regular kid when you're hiding something like this," Raidon said, his eyes closed and a slight smile on his lips.

"I guess, if you want to think of it that way," Hitsugaya said, stooping to get back into his gegai.

"So…" Raidon said, then suddenly he extended his hand, a background of alternating red and white stripes circling his head. "I hereby invite you to join the drama club! They're bound to like you if they know I recommended you!"

"Sorry, not interested." The red and white background cracked and fell with a shattering sound. A shadow now obstructed Raidon's eyes, his jaw was clenched, he faced away from Hitsugaya (who was now in the middle of leaving), and he held up a slightly trembling fist.

"I see, so it's _that_ type of game, is it?" he said to himself, then followed Hitsugaya in a calm and civilized manor.

"What was that all about?" Ayumu asked when they got back to their respective tables.

"It's all settled now, I'll tell you about it later."

"Alright," said Raidon as the group at the other table got up. "We were pretty much finished when we noticed that you were here anyway, so we're ready to go. See you, Ayumu, captain." Hanataro and Ayumu gave Hitsugaya the exact same 'what-did-you-do' look.

"Wasn't my idea."

…

After about ten more minutes of eating breakfast a small face made its way to their table.

"Ururu-chan?"

"Um, Kisuke-san said to come tell you that the tests are finished…" Ayumu looked at Hitsugaya, and he nodded at her.

"Please excuse us Hanataro," Ayumu said as they both got up.

"O-oh. Yeah." They both threw out their trash and Ururu followed them to the door.

"But man," Ayumu said as soon as they got outside, stretching and turning her face to the sun, "it really is nice out. We should do something later." Then turning to Hitsugaya and stopping, she said "Hey, for lunch we should have a picnic!"  
"We just had breakfast and you're already thinking about lunch?" he said, also stopping and turning to face her.

"You've always got to be planning your next meal! So, how about it?"

"Whatever," he said, mostly because he knew that he was going to be bored out of his mind in three hours if he didn't.

"I'll take that as a yes. Ooh, this is great! Hey, do you want to come too Ururu-chan?" Ayumu asked looking at her at her by turning just her head.

"Me?" asked Ururu pointing at herself as though surprised to be included. "Um, well, I guess if Kisuke-san says it's alright."

"Great! Hmm, should I invite Hanataro too?"

"I don't really care what you do," said Hitsugaya, and Ururu shrugged.

"I'm going to invite him. Hang on for a second," she said running back inside.

…

Exactly four hours later Hanataro, Ayumu, Hitsugaya, and Ururu were sitting in a park, on a blanket, eating lunch.

"It couldn't have been our age. Definitely not," said Hitsugaya, who sat cross-legged with a paper plate in his lap.

"Are you still going on about that?" asked Ayumu, who had her legs out to one side and a half eaten rice ball in her hand.

"I just think it can't be that!" Ayumu sighed.

"You've said that more times than I can count…"

"_Ichigo's spirit force when he's wearing the mask is only ever so slightly different from that of the arrancar. They had a spirit force like hollows but more condensed with a shinigami's sharp spirit force mixed in. Ichigo's spirit force is mainly a shinigami's sharp spirit force, but surrounding that is a much more condensed version of a hollow's spirit force. Whatever the difference is it's so minute that most people only notice that it seems like a hollow. Our only suspicion as to why you reacted the way you did is that it may have something to do with your age."_

"I'm just saying it doesn't make any sense."

"Face the facts Hitsugaya, you're a kid. No matter how much you don't like it. That is the only thing that Ururu, you, and I have in common."

"But Jinta and Hanataro were there too! They didn't have any reaction!"

"Well… Jinta was restraining Ururu, and Hanataro… isn't… violent?"

"Now you're just making things up."

"Yes, yes I am. Stop worrying! I seriously bet it was just a fluke. Now that it's happened once it's never going to happen again. Now let's just have some fun, we can't all be tight wads," Ayumu said with a playful smile. Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. _Did she just call me a tight wad?_

"Fine, but I'm not dropping this." Ayumu sighed and then looked around, seeming to drop the topic.

"There are a lot of people here today," she said smiling.

"What do you mean?" asked Hanataro, who had been sitting at the edge of the blanket with his arms hooked around his knees but leaned back on one hand as he asked. He'd changed out of his uniform and now wore a blue T-shirt with a small pocket in the upper left corner and jeans which folded a bit over his sneakers because they were too long on him. He'd convinced his boss to let him have the day off.

"Well, it's kind of strange to think. All of these people have lives of their own. They have nothing to do with us. Every little person we pass on the street, whether we think about them or not, has lived however many years of their life on their own, without having anything to do with us. What we did this morning or yesterday may not have affected them in any way we can imagine, just like what happened to them for their entire life may never affect us. You know, if anyone else was saying this they might tell you about how small and alone it makes them feel. And yet we can see all of these people, be right next to them, touch their lives for a moment. Each second that goes by is a window into the heart of someone we will never see again. Somehow, that makes me feel the opposite of alone," Ayumu said, closing her eyes, smiling, and turning her face to the sun. There was silence for a short time in which the sounds of the rest of the people in the park playing could be heard, oblivious to what had been said.

"You know," said Ururu "even though what you said has almost nothing to do with me, it makes me feel important somehow. It doesn't make me feel alone at all."

"Ah," Hanataro said, nodding. Hitsugaya looked at Ayumu for a long time, then looked up as all of them were now doing. _I guess, she's right. Tomorrow all these people will continue their lives, perhaps not even knowing they saw us here. All the people in the world will have something to look forward to tomorrow. Except the people who will die tomorrow…_ Hitsugaya noticed how much more depressing this thought suddenly was than it had always been. _No wonder people don't like the idea of dying. Really, all this sort of makes me wish that I was alive. I wonder, is this how it would feel?_

"Hitsugaya, you're smiling. I don't know if I've ever seen you smile," Ayumu said.

"Am I? I hadn't noticed," he said looking over at her. She smiled, and began to stand up.

"Well, I'm glad if I made you happy." She looked around. "If we're done we really should get going…" she said walking a few paces off the blanket. When no one else moved she turned to face them.

"Maybe… we could stay just a bit longer?" Hitsugaya asked. Ayumu smiled and rejoined them.


	7. Set in motion

A/N-CHA! I'M BACK!! Thanks for all the views, reviews, favorites, and alerts since I went away (which have all more or less doubled). Oh, it turns out that they don't get the weekend off in Japan. I'm not going to change the last chapter, but weekends will mysteriously vanish from the rest of this fanfic. Estimation of aging based on Rukia's age in comparison with Ichigo's and flashbacks of people when they were younger. Anyway, I'm gonna try to start cranking out chapters pretty fast. Here you go, chapter 7. Enjoy!

X

Things had been going according to a regular schedule in the past few days. Hitsugaya and Ayumu would go to school, and then head to the Urahara shop for training. Hitsugaya had taken to staying after everyone left to practice with his Bankai. Surprisingly, it did not change back to normal. Urahara offered this explanation:

"_As the arrancar Shawlong once said to you, your Bankai was probably immature. That being said, your extreme reaction to Ichigo's spirit force may be what caused it to suddenly strengthen."_

Although he was slightly sad that he would never fight with his old Bankai again, he had come to discover that the new one was much stronger. In it any single particle of his spirit force could become a huge quantity of ice or the katana its self (which he found that he could replicate many times over). In his curiosity he had also examined other aspects of his released form and Bankai. The only thing he found which he hadn't noticed before was that in released form there was a small imprint of a gourd in the metal near the tip of the blade which was so shallow that is was often not visible (and didn't seem to serve any particular purpose anyway). He hadn't used his new Bankai in his training with Ayumu since he discovered it, partially because he felt that it was not ready, and partially because he was planning something special for it. Training some girl who happens to have a lot of spirit force really isn't worth releasing a limit over, but if they didn't fight at full force she would never make progress. Thus Hitsugaya had come to the decision that whenever he felt ready he would fight with Ayumu one on one in soul society.

…

Like all days since they'd met, Hitsugaya and Ayumu were leaning against a wall outside eating lunch together. After a long and particularly awkward silence Hitsugaya attempted to make conversation.

"You don't seem like the type to wear heart jewelry," he said, motioning to a heart ring that she had worn that day.

"Well, I don't really think of it in the same way most people do." Taking his silence as an indication to go on, she said "Most people think of it as a romantic thing, or just a cute little picture. I don't. It's hard to see the resemblance, but this is actually modeled after the human heart. To me that makes it a symbol of life," she said, looking at her ring.

"You always talk like that," Hitsugaya said, pushing himself off the wall. "Is it really so great to be alive?"

"You want the honest answer or the answer that'll make you feel better?" asked Ayumu, who had learned to read him all too quickly.

"The honest answer." Ayumu thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure what it's like to be dead, but I love being alive. Even though you follow a routine things are different every day. I'm not sure why, but somehow just knowing that by heart is beating makes me happy. I'm not really even sure if anything would change if I died, but I know that I don't want to. A lot of people don't feel that way, but you asked me, and there's my answer."

"No, I think you're right." Ayumu turned her head to look at him. "In the time I've known you I've gotten a new perspective on things. Like most people with spirit power, for every 10 years that pass I age one year. Months blur into days. When something passes, no matter how major, it seems like it never happened. Memories, no matter how cherished, dull and fade. Even the instant that's passing is only a stone, beautiful when you're looking at it but barely distinguishable when thrown on a pile of ones just like it. I've come to see life as a fire, bright, energetic, and always changing. Death to me now is the log that the fire once burned on. It never changes or moves. In the last few days, I've realized how much I wish I was alive."

"I'm sorry," Ayumu said after a moment. Hitsugaya looked at her and then closed his eyes.

"For what? None of it is your fault." Ayumu looked down and smiled wistfully. "What?" Hitsugaya asked her.

"Nothing, you just reminded me of something." For a while there was silence. Then Ayumu turned to face Hitsugaya and put her food down. "Hey, Hitsugaya."

"Eh?" Ayumu looked at him for a moment. Then she put one hand over the other, put her fingers together except her thumbs (which stuck out to the sides), and moved her thumbs around in a circle as though rowing a boat.

"Awkward turtle!!!"

"You really have a way of ruining serious moments don't you…"

"Whatever," she said turning her attention back to a bag of string beans that she had been eating. "Oh yeah. Um, I have a request."

"What is it?" Hitsugaya asked in a resigned tone.

"Today instead of training could we go to my house and pretend to have an actual Japanese lesson?"

"Why?"

"Well my grandmother… other than visits on holidays I really only just met her. I think she trusts me, but I'm not so sure that she trusts my taste in friends. She asked me to have our 'lesson' there tonight. Please? If only to prove that you're not planning to kidnap me and sell me on the internet?" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Alright, but I'll have to make some calls."

…

That night they went directly to Ayumu's house after school. After they finished their homework they pretended to have a Japanese lesson for a while, in which Ayumu would come up with something she didn't know the word for and describe it in excruciating detail until Hitsugaya guessed what she meant (which was fairly funny because he mostly had no clue what she was talking about). After they got bored of this they ended up talking randomly about whatever direction the conversation led them in, like how Hitsugaya wears old fashioned shoes

("They came from a school uniform and they happen to be the only shoes I own."

"And I suppose you live in your car too."

"Why would I have a car?")

Or how Ichigo's hollow mask looks like the grateful dead skull

("You know, like without the lightning bolt thing…")

Or how absolutely everyone these days died in a car crash

("Almost every time you meet an earth bound spirit it goes something like: 'I had all these dreams! But then I got hit by a car…'")

And several other things that had absolutely nothing to do with anything useful.

They had dinner fairly late. After dinner Ayumu's grandmother called her into another room to talk privately. Hitsugaya decided to eavesdrop because it would be a real pain if they forbidden from ever seeing each other again and he would like to know about it in advance. And he was curious. He put his ear up to the door when he was sure that no one was watching. On the other side of the door, Ayumu's grandmother moved something from a table to a shelf, and then turned to face her granddaughter.

"Ayumu. Ever since you could talk I've been hearing stories about you. About how you were like me." Ayumu looked mildly surprised. "You can see them, no?"

"O-oh, yeah. You don't know the half of it actually…" Ayumu replied with a chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck. Her grandmother waved the comment away.

"The date of our family tradition is approaching. Do you know what I'm speaking of?"

"Yeah, I've actually sort of been looking forward to it."

"Good. I'm afraid I have a favor to ask of you."

"What's that?"

"Ever since my grandmother held the ceremony when I was a little girl, I've noticed something strange about that place, like a feeling that hangs over it. Now there's finally someone who can confirm or deny it. When we get there, please tell me whether or not you agree."

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Realizing that this was the end of the conversation Hitsugaya stepped away from the door. He narrowed his eyes. _Something strange is going on with that. Whatever it is, she needs to me ready._ Since he was expected to go home after dinner he began to pack up his things a few minutes later. When Ayumu came in to help him and say goodbye he spoke to her in a hushed tone.

"I have something special planned for training tomorrow. You'll see when you get there."

X

A/N-CHA! Sorry that one was so short. It was mostly character development and leading up to stuff. Hope you liked it!


	8. The difference

A/N-CHA! YES! I've been waiting for this chapter forever. Now I can commence with more plot! Yes, way more plot. You have no idea. Heheheheh…

X

By the time Ayumu got to the Urahara shop the next day the sun had begun to set (Since the days were getting longer it had still been daylight when she first left school). In the shop it was business as usual. For the shop that is. As for training no one seemed to have arrived yet. Since nowadays they went straight to fighting she decided to leave her body upstairs and wait for them in the basement. No sooner had she stepped off the last wrung of the ladder than she realized that she was not alone. Hitsugaya and Urahara were already waiting for her, and Hitsugaya seemed to already be in Bankai.

"Oh, I thought no one was here. Where is everyone else anyway?"

"I told you I had something special planned." With that he reached up and seemed to pull his sword out of thin air and simultaneously opened the gate to soul society.

"Oh, no way. Awesome!" Hitsugaya slid his blade between the two doors and turned it sideways. Slowly they began to open, a bright light pouring out from the widening space.

"After you," Hitsugaya said, turning back to Ayumu and motioning to the now open gate. Ayumu smiled and walked through, her silhouette being swallowed by the light. She was followed by Hitsugaya and (to Hitsugaya's surprise) Urahara. "Urahara-san, you're coming too?"

"Of course!" Urahara said, grinning and spreading out his fan. Then, moving his head so that his eyes were not visible beneath the rim of his hat and speaking in a slightly quieter tone, he said "I'm curious, after all."

"Alright. Don't get so excited yet, we've still got a ways to go." With that Hitsugaya turned and flash stepped onto a nearby rooftop. The other two followed him. Just visible beyond the horizon, the last sliver of sunlight slid away as they reached their destination. Streaks of crimson and gold in the sky gave way to a placid dull blue, which then melted into the velvety navy and dazzling stars of night. They dismounted the shingled rooftop. They were in a courtyard surrounded on all sides by small buildings. "This is it." Urahara took a spectator's position, standing in a corner. Hitsugaya and Ayumu stood across from each other, both wondering who would attack first. A gentle breeze blew across the courtyard.

Suddenly Hitsugaya reached up, once again pulled a katana out of thin air and began to charge. Ayumu dodged off to the side. Hitsugaya put one foot down, pivoted on it, and leapt after her. _It's more difficult to dodge him._ Ayumu drew the beginning of her sword. It stopped the attack, but didn't do much else. Surprisingly, unlike most shinigami she'd fought in a situation like this, Hitsugaya did not just stand still and try to overpower her. Instead he shifted his stance and swept his leg under her, knocking her off her feet. The katana disappeared. Quickly putting her guard back up, she caught herself by doing a semi-cartwheel, stopping halfway and pivoting on her hands and aiming a kick at Hitsugaya's head. He blocked it and pushed himself off her leg, jumping over her and landing off to her other side. He caught the katana again and aimed a slash across her stomach. She jumped to dodge it. Once again the katana vanished. He spun on the toes of the foot closer to Ayumu and outstretched the other leg to kick her. _His fighting style's changed._ Ayumu ducked and attempted to put some distance between herself and him. She was stopped by a wall of ice. Katana in hand, he slashed at her again. She dodged, and the force of the slash shattered the ice wall that was now behind her. Now on the ground, she rolled away and got up. Hitsugaya chased after her, slashing at her every few steps.

"Is this it?" Hitsugaya called. "You'll need to be stronger than this if you ever want to get anywhere!"

_e-_

_Ayumu, a girl of perhaps five or six, stood sat on a bench on a cloudy day. She wore a navy blue jumper and a white t-shirt and stretch pants under it. Next to her was another young girl, about the same age. She had light blonde hair, which was pulled back to show a high hairline. Her eyes were large, with shiny blue irises. She wore a white dress with a rose pattern on it. She seemed to be thinking about something. Ayumu turned to her._

"_So what if you didn't get into the death god school on the first try. Lots of people don't. There's always next time, right? And your mom and dad aren't mad, so it's no big deal!"_

"_Maybe my mommy and daddy don't care, but I do. I really wanted to get in!" She turned to face her friend. "Maybe…could you help me?" Ayumu looked surprised._

"_But I'm not a death god!"_

"_I know." She paused for a moment. "But, you're so strong! You could teach me to be like that!" Ayumu thought._

"_I'm not strong. To be strong, you have to work for it. You know, fight through all sorts of bad stuff. I'm just… talented! That doesn't count." Her friend looked at her for a few moments, and then hung her head._

"_I guess you're right." Ayumu looked at her, waiting for her to go on. When she didn't Ayumu smiled and closed her eyes._

"_Let's become strong together, ok?" she said, extending her hand to shake on the promise. A few rays of sun broke through the clouds above them. Her friend looked at her, then smiled and nodded. They shook hands, and then both laughed._

_-e_

"Think! Why do you fight?"

_That's right. I wanted to protect them._

_Perhaps both a year younger than when they had made their promise, an image of the same two girls came into focus in Ayumu's mind. Ayumu had slid in front of the other girl, arms spread as if to stop something from reaching her. Both girls seemed terrified, yet equally determined._

"Just saying you want to isn't good enough!"

_The people I will never see again._

_The same two girls again. They were now their current age. Ayumu's hair had gotten much longer; her friend now had long bangs on each side of her face that started at the end of her eyebrow and went to the beginning of her ears. They seemed to be having a conversation before going into school in the morning. Slowly the picture began to expand. Now other groups of friends were visible, now other people walking down the street, now the whole school building and surrounding area._

Another slash. The blade gleamed and a bit of blood splattered on the ground. Ayumu stopped running and began to fall.

_It's sharper than I expected. When you're cut with a knife, it's only sharp for a second before it starts throbbing. This is sharp all the way through. So this is the difference._ As she fell a bit of the transparent blade had come free from it's sheath. Now the image began to grow clearer. As though filled with drops of expanding liquid, metallic substance began to fill in the blade. A white spirit force, like steam, began to rise from Ayumu's body. Hitsugaya braced himself and, seeing this, so did Urahara. Suddenly Ayumu released a storm of blinding white spirit force. Braced against it, both Hitsugaya and Urahara wondered what would happen next. The storm of spirit force stopped as abruptly as it had started. Ayumu stood, slightly dazed, where she had lay a second ago. But she had changed. Now she wore the dark clothes of a shinigami. Her sleeves came down between her elbow and wrist. Her pant legs were still loose, but they had hardly any folds and came down to the middle of her shin. Around her middle she had a white obi (A/N-large Japanese belt traditionally used to fasten a kimono). On her back, kept in place by nothing but the obi was her sword. She seemed not to notice. She stomped up to Hitsugaya.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" Hitsugaya cleared his throat. Suddenly Ayumu noticed that she had changed. "Oh. My. God. That's. Pretty. Frickin'. Awesome." She put up her hand for Hitsugaya to high five her, and slowly shrunk away when he did nothing. "Oh, ok. You don't do high five, that's cool I get it…" Hitsugaya sighed, rolled his eyes, and reluctantly put up his hand. Ayumu slapped it with all her might, which left even the captain shaking his hand. Ayumu was still ecstatic. She drew her sword. "Man that's an awesome sound. I feel so dangerous!" she said, pretending to stab someone. "Hah! Now I get to talk like Ikkaku!"

"I suggest you don't, or some crazy 11th squad guys will attack you," said Hitsugaya, who had changed back to his unreleased form. Ayumu blinked at him several times, and then nodded furiously, letting her sword drop to her side. Suddenly the ground next to her seemed to explode. Ayumu jumped to the side.

"Holey smokes! What was that?"

"Sheath the goddamn sword! That's the first rule! Sheath the sword when you're not using it! _Especially_ if it's released! I thought everyone knew that!" Ayumu let out a nervous laugh and sheathed her sword.

…

A few minutes later Hitsugaya and Urahara watched Ayumu go up the ladder.

"She really is a nerd, isn't she…" Hitsugaya said, referring to the fact that she hadn't calmed down in the slightest on their way back to the shop. "Well, I'd best be going too."

"Hold up a moment, captain Hitsugaya. I'd like to talk to you." Hitsugaya turned to face Urahara. "I'm curious. How exactly did you know that Ayumu needed to be cut?"

"Just intuition I guess."

"Somehow I doubt it," he said, spreading his fan, his eyes hidden beneath the rim of his hat. "In my opinion, it seems that you may have had a similar trouble with Hyourinmaru, am I correct?" Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "Forgive me, but I took the liberty of looking into your school records. You skipped many grades, which I would expect. However, it also mentions that you were held back three years in your graduating class for failing to produce a soul slayer. Care to elaborate?"

"No, that's the whole story."

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. But I will want to look into this."

"Why?"

"I've said it a few times tonight. I'm curious."

X

A/N-CHA! I finally got past this chapter, I'm proud. From last chapter: I don't own the grateful dead. Oh, and the italicized part that has the e- -e thing is because they're talking in English for the whole flashback.


	9. Discover: the anniversary

A/N-Cha! Yeah. It's not capitalized because I really have nothing to say. Oh, and I'm sorry if this ends up like my shortest chapter to date, it's mostly leading up to stuff. But I'm glad, because I get to write up an awesome and very well-thought-out chapter soon.

X

Hitsugaya sat at his desk in class. As usual, he was looking out the window, doodling, or not paying attention in some other manor. This was partly because he knew everything that was being taught, and partly because he knew that his grades wouldn't affect him in any way whatsoever. Still, it would be conspicuous to just walk out of the room. It would also be conspicuous to have his phone detect a ravenous spirit monster in the middle of class. Which is exactly what it did. As soon as his phone started beeping the teacher stopped talking and walked over to his desk.

"Now Hitsugaya. You know phones aren't permitted in school," she said, holding out her hand to confiscate the phone. _Damnit. Why can't hollows show up at lunch time? I have to think of something that'll always work, I'm sure this'll happen again. Let's see…_Hitsugaya clenched his fists and looked off to one side as though thinking about something sad (adding in a small sigh for good measure). He slowly looked up at the teacher.

"I'm sorry. It's just… well, my father is very sick right now. I need to always keep my phone on me in the case of a family emergency."

"Oh, I see, I'm so sorry. You should probably get that then," said the teacher, looking concerned.

"Ah, thank you." Hitsugaya calmly got up and walked out of the room, reveling in how remarkably successful that was. Once outside the classroom he popped a small green pill in his mouth, instructed his gegai to pretend to talk on the phone and look concerned, and took off. The hollow was relatively easy to beat. Although ordinarily he might have released his soul slayer, he decided that this time it wasn't really worth the trouble. To his surprise, it was over with a simple slash from behind. He then raced back to school to find his gegai doing exactly what he had told it to. Overall, that (combined with the fact that Kaneko and Sanjo hadn't patted his head much) made it a good day. Still, considering the date it could've been better.

…

Ayumu and Hitsugaya were walking home together, as always.

"I probably won't be coming to school for much longer," Hitsugaya said casually. "Since we're done with your training there's really no reason for me to stay…" Ayumu noticed that, as much as he despised going to school, he seemed slightly sad.

"Huh? 'Done'?" Hitsugaya turned his head slightly to look at her as they walked. "Silly. As long as there's still something I can improve upon I'll never be done. After all, I haven't even caught up to Emma yet. This time though, I'll train by doing the real thing." Hitsugaya gave a small smile.

They planned to go to Ayumu's house and have another 'lesson' since they didn't need to go train at the Urahara shop anymore. The days were longer, so it was still broad daylight as they rounded Ayumu's corner. They didn't get very far however when they noticed that someone stood before them. Raidon Yoshida walked casually up to them.

"So, captain. That was a pretty smooth excuse today in class." He looked at Hitsugaya slyly. "So… once again I urge you to join the drama club."

"I already told you, I'm not interested."

"Oh Hitsugaya. So naive." He put his arm over Hitsugaya's shoulder as he spoke, and began to stroll forward, more or less pulling him along. "You see Hitsugaya, I know your secret. You wouldn't want the whole school to find out your true profession, would you?" Hitsugaya hadn't been expecting this, but there are far harder things than dealing with blackmail.

"If you think that they'll believe you, go ahead. Frankly, I'm tired of people not calling me captain. Of course, chances are they'll think you're totally nuts. That's why I haven't told them myself," Hitsugaya said, brushing the hand off his shoulder and walking forward. Ayumu walked quicker to catch up with him, shrugging as she passed Raidon. Raidon stood grumbling for a moment.

"You're just lucky I don't have time to come up with a better threat before the play!" he called after them. "I hope it bites you for parent-teacher conferences!" Hitsugaya stopped and slapped his forehead. _Parent-teacher conferences? Of all the stupid…_ "Yeah! Um, that!" Raidon said, and with that very pointedly turned and walked away.

…

Up in Ayumu's apartment, it was basically the same thing had happened as their first 'lesson'. Being at Ayumu's house reminded Hitsugaya of the mysterious conversation that he'd overheard last time he was there. Eventually he resolved to find out more about it.

"Ayumu, last time I was here I, um, 'overheard' you and your grandmother talking." Ayumu looked at him, and then laughed.

"'Overheard' hm? Well, what did I expect. So, what do you want to know?"

"She talked about your 'family tradition'. What did she mean?" Asked Hitsugaya, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Oh, that. I've actually never participated in it before, since I've been in America this whole time. Remember that girl that grandma told you about the first time you came here? The one with the same name as me?" Hitsugaya nodded. "Well, her and her sister died really young in some sort of accident. Their mother set up this whole family tradition that on that day each year our family honors their death. But seeing as it's been over 500 years since then it's not as morbid of an occasion as it sounds."

"I see. And when is this?"

"The day after tomorrow, I'll be absent because of it," Ayumu said. Upon seeing Hitsugaya's surprised expression she asked "What?"

"Well I'm going to be absent that day too. Something sort of similar actually…"

"Oh, what is it?"

"Well strangely enough, in a way I'll also be honoring a death," Hitsugaya said, hugging his knees up to his chest.

"Oh," said Ayumu, her tone changing as she realized that he might be sad about this. "If you don't mind my asking, whose death?" Hitsugaya was silent for a few moments.

"Mine."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, as weird as it may sound. Every year I can tell. It doesn't exactly hurt, but I can feel it, right here," he said, extending two fingers to point to a spot on his chest mere centimeters from his heart. Ayumu looked like she might say something, but closed her mouth. Then her face lit up.

"Hey, I've got a great idea!"

"Oh?"

"Why don't you come with us!"

"Eh?"

"Think about it. You're taking that day off anyway. It'd be boring for both of us if you don't come, and who really wants to be alone on the anniversary of their death?" She had a point there.

"Alright. Only if it's ok with your parents though."

"It's really my grandmother that I've got to convince. She's in charge of this whole thing. It's ok though, I know a pretty good way to convince her. And it's not like I'll be lying…" they found Ayumu's grandmother in the kitchen. Ayumu went in, and Hitsugaya stayed the exact distance from the door so that he could listen and it didn't look like he was doing so.

"Grandmother…"  
"Yes?" she said, turning.

"I've been thinking about what you asked me. It's not that I can't do it; it's just that I don't want to make a mistake and tell you the wrong thing."

"I see. So in other words you won't do it."

"Well, no. But… Hitsugaya can see them too. He's somewhat of an expert actually. I was thinking, could I invite him?" Ayumu's grandmother thought about this.

"Well, people have brought guests before, I don't see why not."

"Thanks grandma!" Ayumu said, running up to give her a hug before skidding out of the room and almost crashing into Hitsugaya. He caught her by the wrists moments before she slammed into him. He could feel her hand in his, her breath on his face, her eyes inches away from his.

"Matsumoto's going to turn this into a romantic thing."

"Oh serious?" she asked, sounding slightly offended and snatching her wrists back.

"She already thinks we're dating."

"Listen, just don't tell her, ok…"

X

A/N-CHA! That's the end of the chapter because I have nothing else to say. I just came up with that Matsumoto part now and threw it in because I haven't done anything funny in ages… tell me if you liked it! The rest of the chapter… and story… too.


	10. Confusion and curiosity

A/N-CHA! Let's get things going! One of the most well-planned chapters yet! Sit tight! This might be a long one! Oh, and I have a request. From now on, please try not to give any specific info in reviews, I don't want to have any spoilers for people who read reviews first.

X

Nothing of particular importance happened the next day. For the entire day Hitsugaya and Ayumu couldn't stop thinking about what would happen the day after. Before they knew it, the day was over and their curiosity was about to be satisfied.

Hitsugaya showed up at Ayumu's house around noon, a change of clothes in his bag. He had been told to bring something traditional to change into before the ceremony. He had considered wearing his shinigami robe (which he still had left over from when he first got into his gegai and was wearing a copy of them before changing into civilian clothes) just for kicks, but decided against it. Eventually he had ended up with an outfit that looked much like his shinigami robes, but with no jacket, a white shirt, and pants that were a wan green (much like the inside of his captain's jacket). When he got there people were already preparing, although they informed him that they wouldn't be leaving until about 7:00pm. Since most of the preparing was being done by Ayumu's parents Hitsugaya and Ayumu just ended up talking. Finally the question came up that Hitsugaya had been expecting since the topic was first brought up.

"Um, Hitsugaya… if you don't mind my asking, how did you die?" Expecting it didn't make him any more prepared to answer.

"I can't remember."

"You can't remember? It seems like a pretty big thing to slip your mind," she said, slightly annoyed that he seemed to be keeping something from her.

"No. I can't remember." Upon hearing his tone she knew that he was telling the truth, good actor or no. She dropped the subject.

They had an early dinner around 5:00 and got changed around 6:00. Ayumu and Hitsugaya took turns changing in her room while the other waited outside. Ayumu changed first. When she came out of her room to let Hitsugaya change she was wearing a purple kimono decorated with a simple white flower pattern. As she passed Hitsugaya watched her. She seemed to move past him in slow motion. For a few seconds after they switched rooms Hitsugaya stood with the door open, staring at her as though trying to remember something.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, it's nothing. I just feel like I've seen you in that dress before, but I know I haven't." Ayumu just shrugged as Hitsugaya shut the door to change. As soon as he came out Ayumu got a surprised look on her face.

"Wow. And you thought you had déjà vu," she said, rubbing her head.

"It's still weird."

"Ayumu!" Ayumu's mother called for her from another room. Both of them walked into the living room to find Ayumu's mother and father (Her grandmother had gone to prepare the site early that morning) waiting for them in the clothes that they would be wearing that night.

"We have a present for you," her father said, taking out something that appeared to be a semi-circle wrapped in a thin layer of lavender cloth and handed it to Ayumu. She slowly pulled the cloth away. It was a comb for her hair, adorned with a white flower and a pair of decorations that were meant to look like very oddly placed hair sticks. Hitsugaya couldn't say why someone would want to look like they had hair sticks coming out of the side of their head, but assumed it was a style. Strangely enough, he had seen several with a similar style in soul society but none so far in the living world. Ayumu seemed genuinely happy with the gift, but also slightly puzzled.

"Here, wear it like this," Ayumu's mother said, taking the comb from her hand and scooping up some of Ayumu's hair with it, tucking it neatly just above her ear. "Oh, that's pretty. Look how well it goes with your dress!" For a moment Ayumu looked distressed. She seemed about to say something, but she changed her mind and her face softened.

"Thank you."

"I got this for you a long time ago," Ayumu's mother continued. "I always meant for you to wear it on this occasion, but this was the first chance I got to give it to you. It's a replica of one belonging to the girls," she said, referring to the two girls who had died. No wonder they were in soul society but not the living world, the style was over 500 years old! With Ayumu's appearance altered the feeling of déjà vu Hitsugaya had been experiencing was ebbing away, but something separate seemed familiar about the comb its self… Ayumu on the other hand was sure that even before it had happened she could've quoted her mothers exact words when giving her the comb from memory. And she was sure that there was something bad associated with it, although receiving the comb and hearing her mother speak had given her nothing but joy…

The car ride was about an hour and a half long. During the drive Hitsugaya and Ayumu mostly looked out the window and separately contemplated their strange feelings of familiarity. As they neared their destination Ayumu's father told them that by tradition they had never sold this property even though no one was living on it. When they arrived Ayumu's grandmother was waiting for them. The instant that they stepped out of the car they understood what she had been talking about. A strange spirit force seemed to coat the entire area, from the abandoned house that they were parked in front of far into the woods that were also owned by the Masami family. Strangely it didn't seem to be coming from a person, but from the place it's self. Hitsugaya vaguely recognized some of it to be compiled of leftover spirit force from the house's occupants that had ebbed away over time to the point where it was almost unrecognizable. But there was something else too, not just a spirit force. _Spirit enriched land._ That was definitely it. It was a different and rare (maybe even unheard of) type, but that was definitely it and it was definitely strong enough to be felt as a spirit force. Ayumu walked up toward the house. She turned to partially face her grandmother and nodded. Ayumu's grandmother glanced at Hitsugaya and he repeated the gesture. She smiled slightly, glad to finally have confirmed what she had felt for her whole life.

They began walking into the woods surrounding the house. Somehow Hitsugaya felt that they were approaching the center of the spirit enriched land, which usually doesn't exist. He assessed the situation. _It seems like there was an explosion of spirit force and the shockwave's effects on the land is what we've been feeling._ They entered a clearing a small ways from the house. The second they set foot in it they realized that this was the center of what they had been feeling, the site of the explosion. There seemed to be something ominous about the clearing. Something terrible had happened here. _This must be the spot where they died. Is that what all this is about? Two girls die and it has _this_ effect on the land? Obviously they had a lot of spirit force. But still, even if the entire Kurosaki family died it wouldn't be like this!_ The spot just above his heart had a familiar tickle. _Figures. The sun is starting to set anyway, and with all this weird spirit force it only makes sense that I'd feel it a little early._ Up above in the space left by the clearing the trees were painted orange and pink. Golden-red light filtered its way through the forest. Standing near a tree in the shadow of its branches, the spirit of a young girl of perhaps six stared at them silently from across the clearing. She wore a kimono a lot like Ayumu's, but instead of white flowers hers was decorated with golden falling leaves. Her hair was wavy and came down to her shoulders where it was cut strait across the bottom. Her eyes were large and round, and appeared to be a dull blue, but if the light hit them just right they seemed purple. Her expression was serious, almost wistful. Frankly, Hitsugaya was instinctively a bit scared of her, and it looked like Ayumu felt the same way. He ignored that feeling, but could not ignore the fact that like so many other things that night she seemed familiar.

"Seems that our little friend is here, as always," Ayumu's grandmother said. Obviously the clearing had been their destination, as they had not moved for some time.

"What do you mean, 'our little friend?'" Ayumu asked.

"That girl always shows up about an hour before the ceremony. She's been coming here for as long as I can remember," her grandmother replied.

"Well, maybe this'll be her last one," Ayumu said. To Hitsugaya that was as good as 'let's do the soul burial after this'. Reassured by how the conversation was going Hitsugaya was not afraid to speak his mind.

"She looks like you guys. Do you think she's related?" Hitsugaya looked over at Ayumu to see if she agreed. She had one of her hands clenched loosely into a fist and resting on her midriff. She shrugged at him.

"Oh? I never thought of that. Really I'm impressed that you can even see her, she's just a wavy outline to me." _But if she can see ghosts that doesn't make sense._ Hitsugaya thought. _Shinigami and hollows are different, but if you can see any ghosts you can see them all! She has a lot of spirit force, but that shouldn't change things…_

"The sun is setting. It's time for our ritual to begin," Ayumu's grandmother said. They arranged themselves so that Ayumu's grandmother was in front, her parents side by side behind her, and Hitsugaya and Ayumu side by side behind them. They stood with their eyes closed and their hands together as though they were praying. "Oh ancestors…" Ayumu's grandmother began, and proceeded to make a long speech from memory as she had so many times before. The spot on Hitsugaya's chest began to twinge. This concerned him slightly, because it didn't usually do that. He supposed that it was being amplified from being in a place like this. Why did he accept this invitation again? Hitsugaya poked it with his thumb so as to not move from his position. Ayumu moved her hands down slightly and pressed her wrist right under her ribcage as though scratching an itch. "We will now wait in silence until the sun sets to show our respect to those who died here on that night," Ayumu's grandmother finished her speech. _Damnit._ The spot on his chest was becoming painful now. Ayumu repeated the motion she had made moments ago, digging her wrist in a little harder this time. There were a few moments there all that could be heard was the calm breath of those present. The young girl's spirit looked on at them with something that seemed almost like longing. And yet in this seemingly peaceful scene something was wrong. There was some tension mounting. Ayumu's face seemed pained now. Even her parents could feel it, the sense that something was wrong, something terrible was about to happen, some evil energy was building up— and then things began to happen very fast.

A bloodcurdling scream split the air as the last slivers of sunlight crept their way out of the forest and seemed to echo across the landscape. In the confusion it was hard to tell who had screamed. But after a moment they located that it was Ayumu who was screaming. Her hand clutched a spot in the middle of her torso, pulling the fabric of her kimono and creating wrinkles that ran all the way up to her shoulders. She fell to her knees, still screaming, and collapsed to the ground. Her scream paused only for her to take a breath. Somehow Hitsugaya knew that the little girl's spirit who was staring (without any change in expression) was involved in this.

"Hey what the hell did you—" he screamed furiously at her. The girl looked up at him. Then, as though it had only been a trick of the light, she began to change. As the shadows lengthened, the severed chain of fate disappeared, the kimono was replaced by a tight shirt and pants that were loose but drew in at the bottom of the same color and pattern as the kimono, and now she turned on one foot and her image began to fade… "Hey! Wait!" at this point the spot in Hitsugaya's chest was getting quite painful now and his breath was coming in short bursts. He turned to Ayumu who was now on the ground surrounded by her family. Painfully he remembered seeing her rest her hand on her midriff earlier, he should've noticed, he should've known— suddenly his eyes opened wide and then shut tight. He gasped for breath. It was as though he had been lying on his back and someone had poured scalding acid down on the spot just above his heart, it burned its way down in a straight hole through him, not meeting any resistance, destroying everything in it's path- he had never known pain like this and yet again something told him that he had, it was pulling him back, burning away the fog that had hindered him for so long- fire shot through him, his vision went red and then black, Hitsugaya collapsed and two screams echoed into the night…


	11. An answer that poses no solution

A/N-CHA! Man, that was suspenseful wasn't it? I feel so powerful. And yet, not. By popular demand, my next fic will be Hitsugaya X OC. It might take a while though. Hey, what's a c2?

X

Hitsugaya opened his eyes slowly, not really bothering to process what they saw. His chest still ached a bit, but the pain of the night before had faded. He placed his hand over the spot. What had happened? The memories of the night before came flooding back to him. He closed his eyes.

His dreams that night had been a confusing tangle. He wasn't sure if he had seen or made up the things that he had dreamed. Images flashed through his mind.

_He saw Ayumu's mother sitting on the ground in the woods from a position as though kneeling slightly behind her. She was wearing a kimono different from the one she had been wearing the night before, this one was dark with green dragonflies on it. Her mouth was open and she rocked forward as though crying out. Streams of thick tears ran down her face, dripping off her nose, chin, and upper lip. In her hands she tightly clutched the comb that she had given to Ayumu._

_Hyourinmaru had materialized. His white bat-like wings spread, the dragon skated through the air towards a spot where there was a small dead patch in the vegetation, seeming to protect Hitsugaya of his own accord._

Hitsugaya blinked his eyes open again and slowly pushed himself up. He seemed to be lying on a mattress. He crossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and running one hand through his white hair. He moved his hand down to his cheek and rested his head on it. Slowly he began to gather information abut his surroundings. He was in Ayumu's room. He had been lying on a mattress that had slid out from under hers in her bed frame, which had been accessed by moving her night table. Somehow he doubted that he had done any of this himself. He was still wearing the same clothes from last night, as was Ayumu who was lying on her bed still unconscious. Just then the door squeaked a bit as Ayumu's mother peaked into the room.

"Oh thank goodness, you're alright," she whispered, crouching by his side and hugging him. Hitsugaya had never been hugged by anyone's mother, but he still wasn't really thinking properly so he didn't much care. "Do you need anything?" she continued.

"No, not really…" he muttered.

"We weren't able to get in touch with your family, they must be worried sick!" _Knowing Matsumoto she probably is._ "If you want to give us their number then we can call them for you."

"No, I'll call them myself… could you hand me my bag…?"

"Yeah, of course." She went and got her bag from next to Ayumu's bookshelf, where he had left it the day before. "Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"Yeah."

"Alright… just holler if you change your mind and I'll come back to check on you in a few minutes," she said, making her way out of the room. As she reached the doorframe she paused to look at a still sleeping Ayumu with concern, and then left. Hitsugaya reached into his bag and pulled out his cell phone. Figuring that his vice-captain was the only one who should know where he was and therefore the only one concerned, he dialed Matsumoto's number.

"You're not dead are you?" she answered the phone.

"No, Matsumoto, I'm not dead," he replied, rubbing his head with his free hand and holding the phone slightly away from him because of how loud she was speaking.

"Thank goodness! That being said, where the HELL are you?"

"I'm at Ayumu's house. And not so loud, I just woke up."

"You were sleeping? Wait, what were you _doing _at Ayumu's house?"

"Forget firing you, I'll freaking **kill** you if you mean what I think you do. Anyway…"

"I've been looking for you all night, but your spirit force is everywhere! Why do you have to go so many damn _places_?" she asked, doing as good of an impression of a responsible adult as she ever would.

"Listen. Some… stuff happened. Just come over here, ok? Leave your gegai, I don't think that they can see shinigami."

"I'm already on my way."

"See you," he said, and hung up. He flopped back down on the pillow that Ayumu's family had given him to use. Now that she was coming over, what was he supposed to tell Matsumoto when she asked what had happened? He didn't know what had happened himself. He knew that it was too much of a coincidence for his gegai to contract some sort of illness that would attack him in exactly that spot on exactly that night at exactly that time, but then what had happened to Ayumu? She seemed to have experienced the same thing, and it couldn't have to do with her death because she wasn't dead. Just then there was a sound like a window opening, and then Ayumu's shade went up revealing Matsumoto. She looked as though she might say something angry, but her expression shifted when she saw him.

"Captain!" she said, stepping down from the windowsill. "You look terrible, are you alright?" Hitsugaya looked at her for a moment and then down at his hands.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, though he knew this wouldn't make her any less worried.

"What happened?" she asked, kneeling down beside him as Ayumu's mother had just done.

"I'm not sure about that either," he said, and proceeded to describe to her what he had experienced.

"Wow… um," said Matsumoto, apparently at a loss for what to do. "Do you want me to call the fourth division?"

"No, but there is something that would be helpful." Matsumoto listened attentively. "I want you to go back to soul society and look for anything like this in the library. I'll be joining you as soon as I get the chance." Matsumoto nodded her head and flash stepped out of the room. She may be a slacker most of the time, but when it came to her captain's safety she certainly was loyal. Hitsugaya made a mental note to thank her for that. Ayumu's eyes fluttered open. "Sorry, did we wake you?"

"No, no…"

"Are you alright?"

"I think I'm ok now…" she said, pushing herself up. She turned her head to him. "Hey, what are you doing in my room Hitsugaya?"

"That's right, you were probably out by then. Whatever it was last night happened to me too."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. What do you think that could've been?" she blew her breath out and flopped back down on her pillow as Hitsugaya had done after he woke up.

"No clue. But I'll tell you one thing. That little girl was involved." He glanced at her.

"Yeah, I got that feeling too. Anyway, I should probably head back to soul society."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean no, you shouldn't head back to soul society. We don't know if that's going to happen again, and until we know for sure then you should stay here and rest." This girl had some very good points.

"Fine."

"We should probably change out of these clothes, but I don't really have anything for you to wear…"

"It's alright, I can wear my clothes from yesterday." Ayumu got up and rummaged around in her drawers.

"I'll change in the bathroom," she said after finding a suitable outfit, and walked out of the room. Hitsugaya changed back into the tight jeans and black collared shirt that he had been wearing the day before. When Ayumu reentered she was wearing a red checkered shirt that gathered under the bust and had a ruffled neckline and sleeves, and bellbottom jeans. She sat down on her bed again. "My mom's making us breakfast. Be prepared, it might not be that good." It wasn't that good. Not at all. While pretending to enjoy breakfast they were questioned in many creative ways about what they thought had happened, as though asking a different way would yield a different answer. It didn't, and everyone remained exactly as clueless as they had been before breakfast. Ayumu's parents had called and gotten them out of school for the day, using the excuse that they had been in a minor car accident and they had both gotten concussions. After much convincing that it was fine and Ayumu's grandmother would watch Ayumu and Hitsugaya, Ayumu's parents had finally gone to work. After this Ayumu essentially forced Hitsugaya into watching a movie

("Hey Hitsugaya, do robots go to soul society?"

"Shut up. What is this 'soul society' of which you speak?").

Eventually they ended up sitting around in Ayumu's room. They had closed the window which was open from when Matsumoto had come in. since Ayumu still wouldn't let Hitsugaya leave, so they were sitting there going over what had happened the night before _again_ when there was a small tap at the window.

"Um, excuse me, can I come in? It's very high!" said a small, scared voice outside the window. Ayumu and Hitsugaya looked at each other, before Ayumu went to the window and opened it. A young girl stepped in and looked around, who had seemed to be on the fire escape before. She was wearing a tattered loose white shirt and pants which had black lining at the bottom and black sandals. She had short straight white hair which was brushed off to either side of her face and had a black streak originating from right near the front of her part. Three of her fingernails and eight of her toenails were black, the rest white. But the really unusual thing about her was her ears. They were cat ears. One was almost entirely black, the other was only black at the tip and otherwise white. They weren't exactly on top of her head, but right in between where a human's ears are and a cat's ears are. She hugged her arms tight around herself and shook as though terrified, but when she saw Ayumu she grinned as though she had never been unhappy in her life. She went over to Ayumu's bed and jumped up onto it, using her hands to pull herself up. She curled up into a ball against Ayumu's leg, and seemed to go to sleep.

"Hang on a second!" there was something about her that Hitsugaya didn't like. "Ayumu, you have no problem with the fact that the mysterious ghost of a little girl has something to do with us having some sort of attack, and then the next day some random little girl shows up who seems to love you? Because you're not really doing anything about it if you do."

"Why do you assume that this is some random little girl? I know exactly who this is." Hitsugaya raised his eyebrows at her. "Although I am kind of confused how she got here or why she looks like this, care to explain, Misorako?" The girl looked up.

"You got hurt, so I found you. That's all," the girl said.

"See?" Ayumu asked him.

"No, I really don't."

"Then let me explain. Remember when I told Yourichi that I had one cat that liked me? This is her. Her name is Misorako. She died when I was four, but apparently she came back…"

"A spirit can't just do that! Only a death god can move back and forth between soul society and the living world!" Misorako made an unhappy sound and curled up into a tighter ball.

"Hitsugaya, stop it!" Ayumu said. Misorako sniffled. _Is she crying? _Hitsugaya thought. Suddenly he remembered something that made him regret everything that he just said.

"I was worried about my family," Misorako said. Her voice showed that yes, she was crying. "I wanted to make sure that they were ok, so I came back. I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong… I didn't mean to break any rules…" Ayumu shot him a meaningful glance. He had heard of cases of animals coming back with special powers to protect ones that had taken care of them, and was almost convinced.

"Alright, so it's possible. Still, it's kind of suspicious…" suddenly Ayumu looked as though she had an idea.

"I can prove it!" she said, and called her grandmother.

"If she can fool you then she can definitely fool your grandmother!"

"Yeah, but remember. My grandmother couldn't see that girl last night, and shape shifting wouldn't change that." The door opened and Ayumu's grandmother stuck her head in.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, fine. But grandma, can you see this girl?" she said, motioning to Misorako.

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Well I had this little bet with Hitsugaya…"

"I don't even want to know about it," Ayumu's grandmother said, exiting the room.

"Sorry…" Hitsugaya said with a nervous smile "and my intuition is usually so good too…"

"No problem! Everyone has off days, and this is a pretty good time to have one," Ayumu said.

"You forgive people way too easily."

"What? Oh no, I just don't really get mad at them in the first place!" Hitsugaya sweat dropped. She really did know how to ruin a serious moment…

"Sorry, Misorako. I didn't mean to scare you, I just made an off guess. Can we pretend that never happened?" She turned to him and smiled.

…

When the doorbell rang half an hour later it was Hitsugaya who opened the door to see Ururu and Hanataro standing in the hallway. He immediately knew that Hanataro was here to see Ayumu, and seriously doubted that Ururu had suddenly developed some fascination with him. Despite this, he really wasn't upset that no one had come to see him. A visit from Hinamori might have been nice, but the last thing he wanted to do was make her worry. Hanataro was carrying something in a huge plastic bag. For a few moments they just stood there awkwardly in the living room.

"Oh go on, she's in her room!" Hitsugaya abruptly said to Hanataro, motioning over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Thank you very much!" Hanataro said, running out of the room.

"You can go too you know," Hitsugaya said to Ururu after Hanataro left.

"Um, I think that he wants to be alone with her…" she said, glancing off to the side with a slight smile and blushing slightly.

"Oh, well he's going to have a hard time of it, there's someone else in there too," Hitsugaya said, sitting down on the couch.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, thank you," he said, slightly surprised that she was talking to him. There was a long pause. "She's accumulating quite the fan club, isn't she," Hitsugaya said after a while. Ururu blushed.

"Well, how can I say it. I admire her. She's my idol. I want to make sure nothing happens to her." Hitsugaya smiled a bit at this.

"That's good. Just try not to get as obsessive as Soi Fon, ok?" Ururu looked embarrassed at agreeing with him and therefore insulting a captain. There was another long pause. "If we don't go in there I don't think he's ever coming out." Ururu nodded and went into Ayumu's room, followed by Hitsugaya. Ururu got into some sort of conversation about Misorako with Ayumu (apparently Hanataro had given Ayumu a huge teddy bear which was now intimidating Misorako), and Hanataro and Hitsugaya discussed what might have happened the previous night (Hanataro was somewhat of a medical expert after all). Eventually Hitsugaya got restless. "Ayumu, Matsumoto's waiting for me in the library. Can I leave now? Please?" It was unlike the captain to beg, but in his experience with Ayumu that was the best way to get things done.

"Hmm…"

Eventually it was decided that Hitsugaya and Hanataro would go to soul society to try and find out what exactly had happened, and Ayumu, Ururu, and Misorako would stay there and try to look for information on the girls that had died. Ayumu and Hitsugaya would meet back later to share what they had found.

…

At exactly 8:00 that night they met back at Ayumu's house. Hanataro and Ururu had gone back to their various workplaces and Matsumoto was still in soul society, but there was still someone missing.

"Where's Misorako?" Hitsugaya asked upon noting her absence.

"There," Ayumu said, pointing at a white cat which had one black ear and one mostly white one and a black spot on it's forehead who was sleeping on Ayumu's bed, partially covered by her blanket. "That's her true form. She can only stay in the other form for 6 hours, then she has to go back to this one for at least an hour. So, did you find anything?"

"Well yeah, but it doesn't seem likely. It said that if someone was in the place that they died at the time that they died something like that might happen, but it'd be too much of a coincidence." Ayumu sat on her windowsill and looked out the window. "I mean, that was the time I died, but it'd be too strange to die in the same place on the same night as those girls. And you're not dead, so there's that theory out the window. You?"

"Um, well I'm related to Ururu," she said, turning her head so that her profile was silhouetted by the setting sun.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, apparently my grandma's sister married into the Tsumugiya family. We're going to tart calling each other 'sister' now, just because it seems to make her happy," she said, looking back out the window.

"Oh, that's cool. But, um, did you find anything about those girls?" he asked, slightly annoyed that she seemed not to have kept her part of the bargain.

"Yeah. Turns out they weren't the only ones to die in the accident."

"Oh? Who else?" She sighed, then turned to look at him.

"His name was Hitsugaya Toshiro."

X

A/N-wow, sorry that took so long. And yes, by so long I mean two days.


	12. Useless apologies and strange encounters

A/N-CHA! Sorry this didn't come out yesterday, I had a thing to go to at 9:00 am and got back at like 10:30 pm.

X

"Are you sure?" Hitsugaya said, quickly moving from his relaxed position leaning against the wall to the center of the room and looking at Ayumu intently.

"Yes. You can see for yourself if you don't believe me," Ayumu replied, holding up a small (apparently expertly hand-bound) book with yellowed pages. Hitsugaya took it but did not open it. Gripping it tightly in his hand he sat down on Ayumu's bed and put his hand on his forehead, covering his eyes. _So that's what it was. And that dream, it wasn't about this Ayumu's mother, it was about the mother of those girls. And seeing her in a kimono was familiar because she looks like one of the girls, who I probably knew. And that comb belonged to them, it had something to do with them dying because of my dream. And… _At that point his thoughts became more like a web of connected ideas, all leading up to something and all connected to some part of his core that just kept screaming out to hold on to this. Ayumu simply reached out, took his phone, and called Matsumoto. "Matsumoto."

"Ayumu? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, but I think that captain Hitsugaya should spend the night in soul society."

"Why? Did something happen?"

"No, but he seems a bit confused at the moment."

"Understood," Matsumoto said, and hung up. Hitsugaya didn't notice any of this. His thoughts were moving too fast for even him to process, and he certainly couldn't process anything else.

…

Hitsugaya couldn't fall asleep that night. Hs thoughts had stopped racing, but there were some things that he just couldn't let go of. Finally he got up and looked out his window. Despite the time of year, it was a cool foggy night. He turned and walked out of his room.

There was a knock at Matsumoto's door. She walked over and opened it, her face taking on a surprised expression.

"Captain!" She invited him in and settled on her bed. "I don't know that you've ever come here. Is everything ok?" Hitsugaya winced a bit at that. She could stop asking that already. He sighed.

"I wanted to thank you. You're always there for me. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I've caused you so much worry over the years."

"Captain, why are you saying this to me? Are you dying or something?"

"I know you've never really stopped worrying about me since we first met. I'm sorry if I've caused you any pain." With that Hitsugaya turned and strode out the still open door, disappearing into the fog.

Hinamori was secretly terrified for Hitsugaya. After hearing reports of what had happened to him she was immediately concerned. And yet, for his sake, she kept her feelings to herself. If Hitsugaya knew that she was worried about him, he would get worried about her, and nothing good would come of that. And so this night she was out for a walk to try to calm her restless mind. Even when lost in her own thoughts she did not miss the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around, and was surprised to see the small form of her childhood friend.

"Thank you, Momo." She looked confused. What was he saying? "You stayed with me when no one else would. Without you, I wouldn't have had anything to hold on to when I needed it most. I'll never forget that. I'm sorry that you still have to remember me that way, after all these years." And then he was gone.

…

They went to school as usual the next day. Hitsugaya mostly kept to himself, and Ayumu understandingly defended him. Raidon, Kaneko, and Sanjo were for some reason considerably nicer to him than usual (he suspected that Ayumu had some part in this, although she denied it). School was the same as always for most of the day. But about 15 minutes before they went home they began to feel a strange and unsettling spirit force, which grew stronger as time passed. It seemed to be headed straight for them. Hitsugaya noticed that it was disturbingly like Ichigo's spirit force that had scared them so much, and it was gaining ground with amazing speed. Raidon seemed slightly troubled, and Kaneko and Sanjo would shriek at the slightest disturbance. Before anyone knew it, school was over. Raidon had to stay after school to rehearse for the play. Kaneko and Sanjo had planned to walk home with Hitsugaya and Ayumu, but grew impatient and left before them. They were just leaving the school (most people had already left other than those going to rehearsal) when the spirit force seemed to catch up to them. It _was_ like Ichigo's. That strange quality that had scared them was definitely present. And yet, this spirit force was so much stronger. How? Hadn't Ichigo's been bad enough? Hitsugaya and Ayumu looked at each other, both obviously unsettled. The glance seeming to serve as confirmation of something, both of them swallowed little green pills and instructed the new inhabitants of their bodies to get as far away as possible as fast as possible. For a while they just stood, waiting for something to happen. And then, it did. Something black seemed to be walking towards the school, and although it was far away they could see it clearly.

"Look, there!" It seemed to be made of some sort of shiny black fluid, mostly solidified into a constant shape. As it walked it left behind gray footprints on the ground, like a slug with feet. It seemed to be humanoid, but was in no way human. It had no arms, and rocked back and forth when it walked like a chameleon. Its eyes were huge, glowing, white circles, like gems that had been pushed into the liquid after the rest was formed.

"What the hell is it?" It turned what seemed to be its head to look at them. It stunk of the spirit force that they had been feeling. _Is that what's causing it? It's certainly not a hollow,_ Hitsugaya thought.

"Another one!" Indeed, an exact copy of what they had seen was walking on the other side of them, this one much closer. This one did not stop its strange walk, but just kept on going towards the school. It was not the only one. More of them seemed to be approaching the school. And yet, most of them seemed to stop when they got within 5 yards of the building to turn and look at them. By now the sidewalk was covered with them, all turning at different intervals to look at Hitsugaya and Ayumu. Hitsugaya's cell phone beeped. _A hollow? Now?_ He opened his phone, but it wasn't a hollow. It was Renji.

"Make it quick, Abarai!"

"Captain Hitsugaya! We're getting reports from all over town that strange things are invading, and I can see a few from the shop. Know anything?"

"Only that I'm surrounded by them," Hitsugaya said, and hung up.

"They don't seem to be doing anything," said Ayumu. Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes.

"Alright, what are you and what do you want?" for a moment the accumulating crowd just stared at them. Then, suddenly, handless arms seemed to bubble out from the rest of their body, whey went down on all fours, and charged.

Kaneko and Sanjo had been walking home when they had first seen the strange creatures. After that more and more of them had come, until they had completely flooded the street. One by one a large number of them had stopped and turned towards them. Suddenly they charged. As they got closer together their bodies seemed to push together into one great sea of black and pairs of eyes. Kaneko and Sanjo shrieked and held onto each other, and yet the squirming black mass found its way between them. They reached out and caught each other by the wrist, but their hands soon slipped away.

_Man, it's hard enough to put together a good dress rehearsal, why does this feeling have to make it so hard to concentrate?_ Raidon thought, trying to stay in character.

"Alright, what happened there? That royally sucked Raidon, this isn't like you at all!" said a girl that he was rehearsing with.

"Alright, you caught me. I'm not feeling too well today. Let's just finish the run through, ok?"

"No, you should go home!" said a girl with a minor part (mainly because she was a total chatterbox). "Because I heard, this one time, that if you do something wrong once it can like change your memory of how it's done and then you'll like do it wrong every time! Like this one time…" She continued to talk in that annoying manor of hers. Raidon looked off to the side. _I'm not going to get anything done here, and I need to find out what that feeling is._

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said, waving and walking out the front door of the auditorium. The instant that the door closed he was hit by a wave of spirit force that shocked him to his knees. _What the heck—?_ He looked up to see two of the strange creatures coming step by step up the stairwell in front of him. More of them were already coming in from around corners in the hallway. Before long, he was surrounded. _Damnit!_


	13. Unite, Kaneko and Sanjo!

A/N-Grrr, now you all got me working on some other Hitsugaya X OC fic, when I should be concentrating on this one…

X

Kaneko and Sanjo had been walking home when they had first seen the strange creatures. After that more and more of them had come, until they had completely flooded the street. One by one a large number of them had stopped and turned towards them. Suddenly they charged. As they got closer together their bodies seemed to push together into one great sea of black and pairs of eyes. Kaneko and Sanjo shrieked and held onto each other, and yet the squirming black mass found its way between them. They reached out and caught each other by the wrist, but their hands soon slipped away.

"Kaneko!"

"Sanjo!" as they slipped away from each other the black flood of what had once been the creatures obstructed their view. There seemed to be large lumps with eyes coming out of the mass of liquid, but it could've just as easily been one creature. The flood moved in ripples out from the point where it had separated them, pushing them farther and farther from each other. At first the creature had shoved them like a crowd might, but now it became more like an ocean. Their heads were almost sucked under but bobbed back up, their feet swept out from under them, pressure hitting them like waves felt from underwater.

Kaneko was sucked down first. Inside the black mass the only difference from above was in appearance. The liquid was a now translucent purple. Above her she could see ripples in the liquid where it became separate creatures rising out of the rest. It was impossible to tell how far up the surface was, but it seemed as though the sea went up forever. The consistency of it had not changed, and the rubbery liquid seemed to suffocate Kaneko without getting her wet. It seemed impossible to get to the surface now. It was pushing her down, crushing her… Suddenly for a moment it was less pronounced. For just a second it was lighter, easier to move. Kaneko did not realize that this was because she had left her body behind her. Yet soon it seemed to be weighing down on her again, and she was running out of breath. _I see. Who would think that I would die in a place like this? _She remembered Sanjo's hand in hers. _I hope that at least Sanjo gets out alive. _She remembered their hands slipping away from each other, a sparkle seeming to pass through the space between them. _Sanjo. That's right. I can't die yet. _Her hand instinctively curled, and now something seemed to be filling in the space between her fingers. It was a long round piece of metal, the perfect size for her to hold on to it. _A hilt? _Suddenly there was air. Kaneko coughed and breathed heavily. She was lying on something hard. She opened her eyes to find that she was lying at the bottom of what seemed to be a circular red force field, still under the sea of liquid. She turned her attention to what she held in her hand. It was a hilt, but what was connected to it was not a sword. It was something like a huge bat wing, fully outstretched and larger than her.

Sanjo did not fully go under until later. Several times her head would almost be pulled under, but she would push herself up before then. Finally the liquid fully covered her head, but she remained within centimeters of the surface. Pushing upward she tried to breach the black upper layer, but could not break the rubbery surface. The black liquid seemed to grow stalactites like those in a cave; they wrapped themselves around Sanjo and began to pull her down. She tried to use them as supports to push herself upwards toward the surface. Finally, after many terrifying moments of struggling, she seemed to slip free and was able to break the surface. Unbeknownst to her, her body was still being forced down. Some of the black surface layer still clung to her but she shook it off. The mass seemed to be thinning now, she could feel her feet brush the floor. Within seconds she was able to struggle her way free, as though a wave of the ocean had pushed her up onto the shore. Without a second glance she began to run. She had been carried several blocks and was now in a playground. There were more of the creatures in their humanoid form but they didn't seem to be very interested in her, they just kept walking and joined in with the huge mass. Sanjo was extremely relieved that no others seemed to show signs of charging at her. And yet, her footsteps slowed to a stop. Like Kaneko had, in her mind she saw her hand slip out of Kaneko's, a sparkle passing between them. _Kaneko. _She looked over her shoulder as the black mass which she'd just escaped. _I have to go back._ Her eyes narrowed at the shadowy sea. _I'm lucky to be out, but I can't just let her die._ She turned around completely and ran at full force towards the terrifying creature. But the rest would not allow it. Suddenly a large group began to charge at her.

"Out of my way!" her hand closed around a long round piece of metal. She wasn't sure why, but she slashed at them with it. It turned out to be a good idea. A bolt of energy, like sustained red lightning, shot from her and reduced several creatures to piles of ooze. Shocked, she looked down at the object in her hand. It was an outstretched bat wing, larger than her, but instead of a bat it lead down to the hilt that she held in her hand.

Just then a glowing red bubble burst out of the black mass a few blocks away from Sanjo and seemed to shoot up into the sky. She watched it in awe. Suddenly she realized that it seemed to be coming down awfully close to her. But instead of running her over as it had seemed so sure to, instead it was Kaneko that landed next to her.

"You too, huh?" Kaneko said upon seeing the object in her friend's hand.

"Yeah, what the heck are these things?"

"The bat things or the squishy things?"

"Both!"

"Beats me."

"You could've just said that in the first place…"

"Oh, yeah…" The creatures had split up, and were now staring at Kaneko and Sanjo just as they had before they charged.

"Looks like these things are gonna have at us again," Sanjo said. Kaneko stepped with one foot and pivoted with the other so that she now stood back-to-back with Sanjo.

"Cool." For a moment they stood, waiting for the creatures to attack. Kaneko and Sanjo each gripped the hilts of their new weapons tightly in their right hands, the wings pointing out sideways from the space between them. The ends of the hilts touched. There was an unusual sound, and the line between the two hilts began to glow. Suddenly streaks of light burst forth from the line, pushing Kaneko and Sanjo to their respective wings. The streaks of light were each a certain size and a certain width apart, and they all crossed each other at the point that the two wings had come together. Quickly more light spread up from that same point. Now it was solidifying, becoming an actual object. It was a fan. And it was huge. When closed it would probably be the height of Kaneko. It had strips of fabric attached to the largest pieces of wood (the ones that are on either side when the fan is closed) on each side, which looked suspiciously like handles. The point where the two hilts of the wings came together would be the screw in a normal fan. Kaneko and Sanjo too had changed. They now wore matching skintight red jumpsuits, in which the pant legs came down to just above the knee, the sleeves to just above the elbow, and the neckline jutted up a few centimeters before the neck (with a zipper that went down a bit of the front stopping just below the collarbone). At this point they both realized that they had not been supporting their wings but lightly resting their hands on them, the titanic wings and fan appeared to be hovering of their own accord.

"What the—" the creatures chose this moment to charge. To avoid the oncoming wave of rubbery bodies Kaneko and Sanjo jumped up onto the wings that they had been holding moments before and held on to the strips of fabric. They didn't know what to expect, but they certainly didn't expect to end up flying. The wings faced forward, the fan acted as a rudder, and they swept upward.

"Kaneko, we have to go back down there."

"Why would we do that?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because there are innocent people in danger!"

"And we're not innocent?"

"Yeah, but we've got a shield, a lightning gun, and a huge flying fan."

"Oh, a good argument." They began to descend back down to the park. "Hey, I've got an idea! Uh… yeah I don't see any people around. Ok shoot… now!" Sanjo knew it probably wasn't a good idea, but started shooting anyway. Kaneko put a shield up over her half of the fan. Then she took her left hand out of the handle, jumped up, and kicked the side of the fan with all of her might. The fan began spiraling downward, moving so fast that the shot of energy and the shield seemed to blur into one huge red circle, obliterating all the creatures in sight (along with a few street signs and park benches). Their spin slowed to a stop. They shut the fan, and it disappeared in a flash of light. The two wings broke apart and they fell about a meter from where they had stopped spinning.

"Wow Kaneko, that was a _good idea_!"

"It does happen occasionally."

"No, not really."

"Fine, just crush my self esteem why don't you?"

"Ha ha, you got powdery self esteem now." Kaneko just stared at her.


	14. Raidon fights!

A/N-sorry the last chapter was so short, I'm sorry to say that this one might be even shorter.

X

_Man, it's hard enough to put together a good dress rehearsal, why does this feeling have to make it so hard to concentrate?_ Raidon thought, trying to stay in character.

"Alright, what happened there? That royally sucked Raidon, this isn't like you at all!" said a girl that he was rehearsing with.

"Alright, you caught me. I'm not feeling too well today. Let's just finish the run through, ok?"

"No, you should go home!" said a girl with a minor part (mainly because she was a total chatterbox). "Because I heard, this one time, that if you do something wrong once it can like change your memory of how it's done and then you'll like do it wrong every time! Like this one time…" She continued to talk in that annoying manor of hers. Raidon looked off to the side. _I'm not going to get anything done here, and I need to find out what that feeling is._

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said, waving and walking out the front door of the auditorium. The instant that the door closed he was hit by a wave of spirit force that shocked him to his knees. _What the heck—?_ He looked up to see two of the strange creatures coming step by step up the stairwell in front of him. More of them were already coming in from around corners in the hallway. Before long, he was surrounded. _Damnit!_

There was a scream from inside the auditorium. Raidon glanced around at the strange creatures in front of him. Hoping it wouldn't cause them to do anything harmful he turned, flung open the door behind him, and ran inside. More of the creatures had come in to the auditorium through another staircase. Many of them had joined together into a large blob and engulfed a few students. Strangely, Raidon seemed to be the only one who could see them, although he knew that a lot of the other kids could see ghosts or even shinigami. The group of creatures now formed twisting lumps where the students had been captured, which spiraled up towards the ceiling and lifted them up.

Suddenly two bands of the rubbery black goop wrapped themselves around Raidon. One of the creatures had wrapped it's newly formed arms around him. The ones that he had left behind in the hallway were now oozing in between the cracks of the door. It began to pull him in closer to its self, squishing him into its body. It seemed to determined to swallow Raidon up into the rubbery black liquid, and several more joined with it to help the effort. Raidon struggled and fought with it until finally he squirmed free. He turned around to see his body lying abandoned on the ground. The creature seemed not to be interested in it.

"Hey!" he called to the girl that he had been practicing with before. Like the other students she was staring at what she saw as levitating classmates. She ran over to him.

"Yeah?" she asked inconspicuously (as there were some students who probably couldn't see him)

"Am I _dead_?" he asked, motioning to his body.

"I don't think so because you don't have that chain, but what the heck is going on?"

"I don't really know, but there are some things I think you can't see." The creatures began to surround Raidon again. "This would be a good time for you to go somewhere else!" he said, looking at the oncoming figures. Since he seemed to know more about this than she did, she turned and ran back to where she had been standing before. Raidon inched backward, the circle around him growing tighter with every step. Before long his back was against the wall. _These things are definitely after me. Does that mean that this is my fault?_ The wall of bodies continued to steadily push towards him. _I'm the only one who can see these things. That means that it's my responsibility to save everyone!_ Still, with the advancing group caging him in, it seemed impossible. _Get a grip! These things might look scary, but they're not really that tough! They barely have any of that thing I've been feeling at all! Theirs is really weird though, compared to normal people. At first it seemed like that one I felt earlier or at the diner, but it's not, not at all. It's sort of squishy, it slides around. It's much softer than that other one, and it kind of makes me tired. Now that I think about it, it's not really a lot of separate ones but little parts of the same big one. Really it's just like a big water bed. Alright. So how do you defeat a water bed? I need something that's the exact opposite of how they feel. Something hard, sharp, and alert… _By this time not only did he know what he was looking for, he knew that he had one. He lunged forward and cut the closest of the creatures with the soul slayer. Although it wasn't a very good cut, the creature vanished in a wisp of vapor. As he fought his way through the crowd of monsters, he looked like a shinigami in every way.

X

A/N- I'm sorry it's so short. Please don't loose interest in the story, remember that there are still unanswered questions! TT.TT I haven't been getting so many views lately… tell your friends if you like it…


	15. The riddle fight

A/N-sorry the last chapter was so short again, this one aught to be longer.

X

About 15 minutes before they went home they began to feel a strange and unsettling spirit force, which grew stronger as time passed. It seemed to be headed straight for them. Hitsugaya noticed that it was disturbingly like Ichigo's spirit force that had scared them so much, and it was gaining ground with amazing speed. Raidon seemed slightly troubled, and Kaneko and Sanjo would shriek at the slightest disturbance. Before anyone knew it, school was over. Raidon had to stay after school to rehearse for the play. Kaneko and Sanjo had planned to walk home with Hitsugaya and Ayumu, but grew impatient and left before them. They were just leaving the school (most people had already left other than those going to rehearsal) when the spirit force seemed to catch up to them. It _was_ like Ichigo's. That strange quality that had scared them was definitely present. And yet, this spirit force was so much stronger. How? Hadn't Ichigo's been bad enough? Hitsugaya and Ayumu looked at each other, both obviously unsettled. The glance seeming to serve as confirmation of something, both of them swallowed little green pills and instructed the new inhabitants of their bodies to get as far away as possible as fast as possible. For a while they just stood, waiting for something to happen. And then, it did. Something black seemed to be walking towards the school, and although it was far away they could see it clearly.

"Look, there!" It seemed to be made of some sort of shiny black fluid, mostly solidified into a constant shape. As it walked it left behind gray footprints on the ground, like a slug with feet. It seemed to be humanoid, but was in no way human. It had no arms, and rocked back and forth when it walked like a chameleon. Its eyes were huge, glowing, white circles, like gems that had been pushed into the liquid after the rest was formed.

"What the hell is it?" It turned what seemed to be its head to look at them. It stunk of the spirit force that they had been feeling. _Is that what's causing it? It's certainly not a hollow,_ Hitsugaya thought.

"Another one!" Indeed, an exact copy of what they had seen was walking on the other side of them, this one much closer. This one did not stop its strange walk, but just kept on going towards the school. It was not the only one. More of them seemed to be approaching the school. And yet, most of them seemed to stop when they got within 5 yards of the building to turn and look at them. By now the sidewalk was covered with them, all turning at different intervals to look at Hitsugaya and Ayumu. Hitsugaya's cell phone beeped. _A hollow? Now?_ He opened his phone, but it wasn't a hollow. It was Renji.

"Make it quick, Abarai!"

"Captain Hitsugaya! We're getting reports from all over town that strange things are invading, and I can see a few from the shop. Know anything?"

"Only that I'm surrounded by them," Hitsugaya said, and hung up.

"They don't seem to be doing anything," said Ayumu. Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes.

"Alright, what are you and what do you want?" for a moment the accumulating crowd just stared at them. Then, suddenly, handless arms seemed to bubble out from the rest of their body, whey went down on all fours, and charged.

Both shinigami instinctively drew their swords. Since he wasn't yet sure if it was worth it Hitsugaya didn't release Hyourinmaru just yet. He lunged forward to cut the first of the creatures. The instant that his sword touched it however it seemed to vanish in a wisp of smoke. Alright, so these things weren't so tough. As he continued to cut his way through the crowd Ayumu lunged forward. Sword in hand she slashed at the nearest creature. As the other one had done with Hitsugaya it vanished upon contact with the blade. Unlike what had happened with Hitsugaya however, a large amount of the crowd vanished along with it. More of them quickly filled in. Although she was confused Ayumu continued to slash at the creatures, each time a large number of them vanished, each time they were quickly replaced. They began to realize that although it was easy to mistake, the creature's spirit force was not the one that they had felt earlier. And yet that spirit force was definitely there, and it was calling more and more attention to its self. Finally it was so unsettling that Hitsugaya had to do something.

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" The ice dragon shot forward, freezing and shattering a huge number of the creatures.

"Hyourinmaru, eh?" Said a deep woman's voice. The background had turned a glowing red. Silhouetted in the sky was a woman, the one who had spoken and the source of the spirit force. Ayumu and Hitsugaya jerked around to face her. Her spirit force was terrifying, worse than Ichigo's by far, and yet… it was clear that this was only the tip of the iceberg. There were definitely people worse than this, and when you thought about that this really didn't seem so bad. Somehow this train of thought had talked them out of their fear. The background had turned back to normal, and the woman jumped down out of the sky. She wore a dark outfit that clung tightly to her body. Her nails were almost half as long as her fingers, and sharpened to a point as though they were claws. Her eyes were sharply pointed at both ends and angled up. Her hair was black and stick strait, two strands of hair fell in front of her face from the highest points of her widow's peak. "And what's this one?" The woman said to Ayumu in that menacing deep voice that seemed to slide around like the sly music of some string instrument. Ayumu did not bother to lie.

"Chitose." It was at this point that Hitsugaya realized that he didn't know what Ayumu's soul slayer did, and she might not either.

"Ah, now I get it. Chitose. That'd be 'ascend with the strength of 1000' no? I see. So for each time you slash it's as though you slashed 1000 times." Ayumu narrowed her eyes at this. Apparently she did know what Chitose did, and whoever—whatever this was had been right on the mark. "So that's how a puny shinigami like you is getting rid of so many of them, since it only takes one slash to get rid of them the other 999 slashes get sent to the others." Ayumu seemed genuinely surprised at this. "No matter. When I finish you, I can get on with my invasion."

Without warning she attacked. She rushed forward and attempted to knock Chitose out of Ayumu's hand, but only succeeded in pushing her back. She then rounded on Hitsugaya. He jumped backward and shot Hyourinmaru at her, but she easily dodged. She turned back to Ayumu and stretched her arms out in front of her, putting her wrists together so that her palms were facing out. A creature identical to those who were now standing in a circle around them charged out of her hands. As Ayumu cut it (simultaneously getting rid of a large amount of the crowd) Hyourinmaru was shot at the woman again, flying low. She jumped almost 10 meters to dodge the attack, and landed, crouched, in front of Hitsugaya. _Just a bit…_she thought in a voice that was not the same as the one that she spoke in (this one was sharp and high, more like a raptor's cry than a speaking voice). She then did something with her outstretched hand. It wasn't so much that her nails grew, but rather that new ones that were more like razors burst from her fingers. Seeing this and realizing what she intended Hitsugaya slashed at her face. _Display of weakness…_she dodged but not completely, and ended up with a long scratch from her nose to her ear. _Motivation… _Using blades that now served as her nails she scratched five long gashes across Hitsugaya's torso, pushing him off his feet at the same time. There was a huge flash of light behind her, and she whirled around to face it. Ayumu had changed. She now wore a black diamond shaped halter top (which was fastened around her neck by something that looked like a collar and tied around her back by black strings that were attached to the side points), tight black pants that came down to her knees, something tattered and white around her hips (which was shaped as though she had tied a folded over bandana around her waist with the largest part on one hip and had holes like a net), and she was releasing a huge amount of spirit force. Chitose was nowhere to be seen. Still, with all these differences, there were some familiar things. A large phoenix tattoo wound its way up her body, and a comb with a white flower and two decorated sticks sat in her hair. It didn't take any time for her to catch up with the woman. She drew Chitose, which seemed to have appeared sheathed in her left hand. In one motion Chitose gleamed in Ayumu's hand off to her right, and was then on her left covered in blood. Ayumu pulled the red feather and gourd charm off the end of her hilt. The gourd grew in size until it was slightly bigger than her hands side by side. There was a small opening where the gourd had been separated from the hilt, and it began to pull the woman in. Once she had completely vanished the gourd shrunk back to normal size and was rejoined with the hilt. Ayumu returned to normal in a flash of light and ran over to Hitsugaya.

"Are you ok?"

"What, this? Oh, that's nothing. It's actually not even that deep; I could probably heal it myself."

"I'm guessing that shinigami heal better than humans then…" she said sounding confused.

"Yeah. Meanwhile," he said getting up "what the heck was that?"

"What?"

"That whole thing! Was that _Bankai_?"

"I don't know. You got hurt and there was some evil lady attacking so I just did it. Sure looked a lot like your Bankai though."

"Yes, yes it did. But Bankai doesn't just happen randomly the first time you use your soul slayer!"

"Well it's not _that_ weird. I mean, when did Ichigo get his Bankai?"

"Two weeks after Shikai, but that was an experimental training method—"

"And how about you?"

"A week… but that wasn't actually Bankai, it was like, Shikai.5 or something! My point is, that doesn't just happen. And what was with the gourd?"

"Really the whole thing was instinctive…"

"Hitsugaya!" It was Raidon's voice. They turned to see him storming out of the school towards them. What surprised them was that he looked in every way like a shinigami. "I'm not even going to comment on what attacked me up there," he said pointing to a fourth floor window "but this," he then motioned to himself "I blame you for! Fix me!"

"Did this just happen?" asked Hitsugaya, leaning back a bit as Raidon was looming over him.

"Yes it just happened now make it finish happening!"

"It doesn't really work like that."

"Well it'd better start!"

"What's all the commotion?" said Sanjo, she and Kaneko swooping down on their fan.

"What the heck…" said Ayumu, looking at her friends.

"Oh. Oh, I see what happened here," Hitsugaya said, looking around. "Like Kurosaki's friends, you were probably affected by being exposed to Ayumu's spirit force too much."

"Oh, so then I should blame you!" Raidon said, turning to Ayumu.

"You're probably some type of shape shifter. If you really try I'm sure you can turn back to normal," Hitsugaya said to Raidon, unfazed.

"So we have like superpowers now?" asked Kaneko. Neither of them had dismounted from the floating fan. Ayumu turned to look at them.

"No, ya think?" she said. Raidon looked as though he had just remembered something extremely important.

"Oh my god, I'm like in a coma upstairs!" he said, and took off running towards the school.

"Nice job staying on top of that," Kaneko said, watching him run.

"Oh snap, I think we're like asleep over there somewhere!" Sanjo said, pointing to the direction that they had come from and taking off.

"Warn me!" said Kaneko, struggling to regain her balance.

"You know, my body and your gegai are probably running around on the other side of town," Ayumu said, turning to Hitsugaya.

"Yeah, we should go get them." Ayumu turned to flash step onto a nearby building, but Hitsugaya caught her by the shoulder. "But tomorrow we're going back to the Urahara shop."


	16. Similarities? More puzzle peices!

A/N-CHA! Thank you for all your reviews, I really appreciate it. 41 is a lot for an OC story, and I think it's making it more popular. Yay! 3 And that's supposed to be a heart just incase only the three shows up… I am so sorry that this took so long. I'll be pretty busy from now on, so chapters will most likely come out on weekends, or maybe Thursday or Friday if we're lucky.

X

Hitsugaya and Ayumu were, as usual, the last ones out of class the next day. They had forced Raidon, Kaneko, and Sanjo to wait for them so that they could bring them to the Urahara shop. The teacher had gone downstairs, entrusting them with the task of closing the door behind them. But before they got out of the classroom, someone had been waiting. Able to stand staying in his hiding place no longer, a small lion plushy jumped out of Hitsugaya's bag.

"Kon?"

"Man, it was stuffy in there…"

"Whaaaa! A talking stuffed animal!!" Ayumu said, jumping backward and knocking over her chair as Raidon, Kaneko, and Sanjo cowered in a corner.

"It must be possessed! You all run, I'll stay here and kill it!" said Raidon, taking a heroic stance.

"You idiot, haven't you seen all those movies where dolls get possessed and run around with chainsaws? That never works out!" said Sanjo, Kaneko nodding furiously behind her.

"Relax. It's just a mod soul left over from the project spearhead," Hitsugaya said in a classic annoyed tone.

"Oh, ok," said Ayumu, retrieving her chair. "I didn't know they would move in stuffed animals though…" Raidon, Kaneko, and Sanjo still looked lost.

"In other words it's harmless!" Hitsugaya said to them.

"Whatever man…"

"You're the boss…"

"Kon, I however am not harmless. Why were you in my bag?"

"It's all part of my cunning plan!" Kon said, a yellow line running past his head and spiking like sound waves on the computer to his left. "See, Ichigo and Rukia-nee-san were being mean to me," He said, putting his arms together and bringing them up to the side of his face, "so I figured that if I hid in your bag for long enough eventually you'd meet up with Rangiku-chan!" He finished, in a tone that showed how proud he was at his excellent plan. "You can't really breathe in places like that though…"

"Well, go on, get back in!"

"Huh? You're not going to step on me or slingshot me all the way back to Ichigo's house?"

"Of course not! You don't think that I'd let a good plan like that go to waste, do you?" Hitsugaya said with a huge smile, pink sparkles floating around him.

"Really? Wow, you're all right! I should hang out with you more often!" Kon said, climbing back into Hitsugaya's bag. Hitsugaya began to put away the rest of his things. "Hey, watch it, you're squishing me!"

"You deserve it!" Hitsugaya said, abandoning his pretense of niceness. Kon muttered something inaudible.

"Aw, be nice to the talking bear!" Ayumu said in Kon's defense (she didn't really know him, after all).

"I'm not a bear, I'm a lion!" Kon corrected, popping up out of Hitsugaya's bag (upon which Hitsugaya attempted to squish him down with a book).

"It's a bear."

"No, no! I'm a lion! Don't group me with the common plush!" Kon protested, jumping out onto the desk.

"It's a bear, it's a bear, no matter how you look at it it's definitely a bear."

"How about if you look at it this way, hmm?" Kon said, jumping up and landing so that his back was to Ayumu. "See? Mane! Tail! I'm a lion!" he said, pointing to each thing and wiggling his tail a little for emphasis.

"It's a bear, it's a bear, who the heck puts the Quincy motif on the back of a bear's head?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Hitsugaya said, grabbing him, stuffing him down to the bottom of his bag, and quickly closing it. "Sorry about that, he's just an idiot."

"Ok…"

"I'm joust gonna pretend that never happened," said Sanjo.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good…" Kaneko agreed.

"I must say Hitsugaya, each day I get more impressed with you-"

"I'm not joining the drama club."

"Fine, be that way! See if I care!" he said, storming out of the room and closing the door behind him. Shortly after he poked his head back in. "Where are we going?"

…

"I should've figured that you'd do something like this…" Yourichi said, looking at Ayumu accusingly. They stood in they Urahara shop basement, everyone already separated from their body or gegai. Raidon's soul had returned to its normal appearance, but Kaneko and Sanjo still wore their matching red jumpsuits.

"What'd I do?"

"Oh hey yeah, I still blame you!" Raidon said, walking up to Ayumu. Ayumu looked around and a large sweat drop appeared on her forehead.

"Aw, don't worry! We still lurve you!" Kaneko and Sanjo said, coming up from behind to hug Ayumu.

"You lurve me, that's encouraging…"

"Anyway, I'm glad that you could all come on such short notice. I believe you're familiar with the situation?" Hitsugaya said to the gathered crowd (consisting of Ikkaku, Yumichika, Ichigo, and Matsumoto. Urahara, Yourichi, Ururu, and Jinta were on the other side of them).

"Excuse me, captain Hitsugaya, but I'd like to have a word with you," Urahara said, one of his eyes visible from under his hat.

"Ah," he said turning around. They both climbed up the ladder.

"Alright," said Yourichi stepping forward, "I've been placed in charge of your training," she said to Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon. "I'd like you to know that I'm doing this for you… and _only _you." She cast a distasteful glance in Ayumu's direction. Another large sweat drop moved slowly down Ayumu's face. "So. When people fight, they do it to protect something. I want you to think as hard as you can about what you were protecting."

Raidon closed his eyes. In his mind he saw his classmates being lifted up by the creatures, not knowing what was going on. His spirit force grew a little. "Ok. Now what?"

"Well, something should've happened…" Yourichi said, slightly perplexed. "Well, what about you two? What were you protecting?" Kaneko and Sanjo looked at each other for a moment, and then pointed at each other.

"Well, she's right here…"

"It's kinda hard to picture her in danger when she's right next to me…"

Yourichi put her thumb and first finger on her forehead. _This is going to be harder than I thought…_ "Um… I know! Why doesn't someone attack Ayumu, and you protect her!" Ayumu looked slightly surprised, and then narrowed her eyes.

"Ok, sure. I'm going to go over there and get beat up by Ichigo, and you come—"

"Why does Ichigo get to have all the fun?" Ikkaku chimed in.

"Fine then, I'll get beat up by Ichigo and Ikkaku—"

"Actually I sort of wanted to do it," said Yourichi.

"Alright, why doesn't everyone just come beat me up!" Ayumu said, her eyebrow twitching a bit.

"It doesn't seem like a good thing for you to fight Yourichi…" Raidon mumbled.

"Heh? Why?" Yourichi asked, making a particularly evil face on a red background.

"Well it just seems like you don't really like her is all!" he said, stumbling backwards.

"What are you talking about? We're practically best friends!" Yourichi exclaimed, the background turning pink and sparkly.

"Whatever you say…"

…

"What did you want to talk to me about, Urahara-san?" Hitsugaya and Urahara had just entered one of the back rooms of the shop and were now sitting on the floor opposite each other at a round table.

"Ah. Forgive me, but with a bit of digging I found out about the… incident a few nights ago. It would appear that there are similarities between you and Ayumu."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"No, I was hoping that you did. However, I would like to know the details of the fight that took place yesterday," Urahara said.

Hitsugaya explained about the strange woman that had attacked, Ayumu's surprising achievement of Bankai, and the unusual way in which she had defeated the mysterious woman.

"Hmm, this just gets more and more interesting. Then, would I be correct in saying that Ayumu may have suddenly achieved Bankai both because she was upset at seeing you hurt, and in reaction to this woman's spirit force?" Urahara said, just a bit of his eye visible in the shadow of his hat. Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "And that, perhaps, the gourd imprint on Hyourinmaru's blade may serve a similar purpose?" Hitsugaya clenched his fist.

"I'll look into it."

"That would be good," said Urahara with a smile. Sensing that the conversation was over, Hitsugaya stood and turned to leave the room. As he got to the door however, he was hit by a wave of spirit force which was becoming unpleasantly familiar…

Ururu suddenly took off running. She leapt onto the ladder and began climbing as soon as she made contact with it.

"Hey, Ururu! Where ya going in such a hurry?" Jinta called, but she did not respond. To everyone's surprise, she was followed up the ladder by Matsumoto.

"Do you guys have some sort of plan? I thought we were beating me up now!" before she could say anything else Ayumu felt the spirit force that they had reacted to. "Sorry, I've got to go!" She hurried up the ladder with Matsumoto and Ururu. Raidon narrowed his eyes, and ran up the ladder after them. The remaining people in the room looked at each other, and then ran after them to find out what all the fuss was about…

Figuring that he should probably tell his vice-captain that he was leaving (and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get Ayumu either) Hitsugaya headed for the trapdoor. He was slightly surprised when Ururu burst out of it, but quickly remembered that she was expected to react violently to a strange spirit force like this. He was however very surprised when Ururu was followed by Matsumoto, Ayumu, and Raidon (not to mention that everyone else was climbing the ladder).

"Sorry, captain, I need to leave!" Matsumoto said, almost running into Hitsugaya.  
"I have a feeling that we're all going to the same place!" He replied, joining the growing stampede.

It was dark when they got outside, but that didn't hinder them. Using only their sense of the strange spirit force to guide them, Hitsugaya, Ayumu, Ururu, and Matsumoto took the lead (followed closely by Raidon with everyone else trailing behind). After a short time they reached an intersection. It was completely abandoned accept for a boy who seemed to be about Ayumu's age. He wore average civilian clothes. His hair looked black but had a blue sheen, and was styled the way Ichigo's might be if he tried to slick back his hair. His eyes were small and dark. Everyone stopped. He was obviously the source of the strange spirit force.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" He asked, as though he honestly had no clue. He looked at them for a moment. "Um… Hi! My name is Ram. Can I help you?" Ururu suddenly launched herself at him. He pivoted to avoid her, and her kick left a long break in the concrete. "Did I say something?" Matsumoto had charged at him, and now slashed from behind. He jumped clean over her and landed facing her back. "So what, you just wanna fight or somethin'? I mean that's cool—" Ururu jumped at him again, aiming a kick at his neck. He moved his arm up casually as though he intended to block it with his forearm. As soon as her kick touched him a huge cloud of dist was kicked up. Matsumoto began to run towards it for another attack. "It's probably a good call anyway." Ururu came hurtling out of the dust cloud at Matsumoto, who shifted her stance to catch the girl. The dust began to clear. There stood Ram, looking amused. Most of his clothing accept a few tattered strips of cloth had been blasted away; instead his entire body was now covered in a navy blue armor. Even his hands, feet, and two triangular areas along his cheekbones were completely covered. "Man, it's been a long time since I fought a shinigami. I hope y'all have gotten stronger since then, last time was a total disappointment."


	17. Chitose shrieks, Hyourinmaru roars!

A/N-CHA! At this point I figure that in order to read 17 chapters you must really like my story, not just have a mild interest in it. So thank you for sticking with me for this long! But, you know what? It's far from over -evil-

X

"That can't be good," Yourichi muttered to Urahara. Hitsugaya ran forward, drawing Hyourinmaru. Ram stopped the slash with an armored hand, and a few sparks flew off the blade.

"Hey, is this stuff metal? 'Cause I didn't think it was metal, but if it's sparking then maybe it is… that's weird, that means that I _grow _metal. Man, that's really weird!"

"Oh, will you shut up already?! What kind of name is 'Ram' anyway?" said Ayumu, appearing behind Ram's shoulder.

"Shut up, it's a cool name! It means 'shield and wolf!' So oh! In your face! Oh and hey dude, you can like move now. This isn't really working," he said to Hitsugaya, motioning to the shaking sword that was still pressed to his palm. Ururu lunged at him again, this time punching at his chest. He caught her small fist in his palm and flipped her over him, throwing her into a wall. Ururu and Matsumoto seemed to have coordinated the attack, because as he was doing this Matsumoto flash stepped in front of him and attempted a diagonal slash across his torso. He caught the sword before it reached him and threw it, blade first, after Ururu. She tried to dodge, but having just been slammed into the wall she couldn't completely. Haineko grazed her shoulder and imbedded its self in the wall behind her. Ururu fell to the ground, releasing an unusual amount of spirit force for a human.

"Ururu!" Jinta began to move, but was stopped by Urahara placing his hand in front of him. He looked up at the older man as though he had been betrayed.

"Curious, don't you think?" Urahara said, as though to explain his actions. "Normally a small injury like that would just make Ururu go crazy. I wonder what happened this time." He removed his hand, and Jinta understandingly stayed in place (although he obviously didn't like it). "Let's just watch this play out for a bit."

"I take that to mean that we shouldn't help either," Ichigo said, turning only slightly to look at Urahara out of the corners of his eyes.

"That would be helpful."

Yourichi spoke without looking at him, still following the fight. "What are you planning, you old fox?"

"I'm curious," he replied, looking up so for a brief rare moment both of his eyes were visible.

Matsumoto began to move forward for another attack, but was stopped by a small hand on her shoulder.

"Think about it, Matsumoto." Matsumoto had turned her head expecting to see her captain, but instead it was Ayumu who gripped her shoulder. "He kind of freaks you out now, right? But of you think about it, there could be worse. A lot worse. He doesn't seem so scary anymore, hmm?" Matsumoto was severely annoyed. Who was this kid to try and calm her down? But, now that she mentioned it, it was true. This boy who had been so frightening a moment ago now seemed like nothing more than the common hollow.

"Excuse me, I find that offensive! Hey! No more talking, let me see what you got!" with this he kicked off the ground and tore across the street towards Matsumoto. She jumped high above him and landed across the street.

"Are you alright, Ururu?" she asked, trying (and succeeding a few moments later) to pull Haineko from the wall. Ururu did not answer. She didn't seem to have passed out, but was rather in some sort of trance. Matsumoto turned and glared at Ram, who was lazily blocking a few slashes from her captain. Hitsugaya jumped backward and prepared to release Hyourinmaru. Before he got a chance however, Matsumoto ran in front of him. This boy had to know that she was attacking him head on.

"Growl, Haineko!" a small cloud of ash blew over Ram. Much to Matsumoto's dismay, it had absolutely no effect on him. Perhaps because he had been thinking about it more lately, Hitsugaya saw something that he had never noticed before. As Matsumoto released Haineko, a small gourd imprint pressed its self into the hilt guard. Seizing the opportunity, he made his move.

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" The ice dragon skated towards Ram with surprising speed. He made no attempt to dodge it, but instead broke out of the coating of ice in record time. Before he could do anything further, a small voice spoke out.

"Embrace, Amaterasu!" Ram was struck by a large stream of yellow light which illuminated a bit of the street. It knocked him off his feet and slammed him into the ground. The light took the shape of a slightly misshapen giant hand around him, pressing him fast to the ground. Everyone looked to see who had intervened. There were three things surprising about what they saw. The first was that, although Ururu's body was still asleep, she had successfully gotten out of it. The second thing was that the light extended off of her outstretched arm. The third was that, other than a small medallion on her chest containing a gourd charm which supported by two silver straps going around her arms, she wore a shinigami uniform.

"What the—" Yourichi gasped.

"This is the type of thing I really ought to see coming…" Urahara said, blushing slightly.

"I don't… get it…" said Jinta. All this was really too much for him.

The light hand withdrew as Ururu jumped directly over Ram. As she punched at him in midair (still far above him) they clearly saw this time as a stream of light, coming to the shape of a fist at the end, extended off her arm and grew to a larger size than a hollow's hand. It slammed into the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Ram seemed to have rolled out of its way, and now ran out of the dust cloud as he stood up.

"Too slow kid!" he said, looking up at her. He jumped up towards her, and before she had a chance to move he struck her down.

"That's it." Ayumu grinned as she said the next few words. "This is going to feel good. Ban Kai." Chitose shattered, and in an explosion of spirit force Ayumu entered her second state of release.

"What the hell? When did that happen?!" said Ichigo, mirroring the look of shock on Ikkaku's and Yumichika's faces.

"I think we should go now…" said Kaneko.

"No, I want to see what happens!" said Raidon.

"Nope, we're abducting you!" said Sanjo, putting her hand over Raidon's mouth and preparing to leave. Ram pointed at Sanjo and gave her the 'call me' sign. She made a face that clearly communicated how weirded out she was.

In a moment Ayumu stood in front of Ram, both seeming to be on an invisible platform in the sky. Reaching past her left hip with her right hand, she pulled Chitose out of thin air. She slashed across his chest. Knowing that she could not cut him, he made no attempt to stop her. He was surprised when the force of the strike made him stumble backward. He tried to counter attack, but it was too late; he had given her an opening. She slashed the same way again. This time the slash drew a thin scratch on his armor. She repeated the motion several times, until finally a thin crack formed across his torso. Ram's eyes widened. With a triumphant smile, Ayumu pulled back and stabbed through the crack. A few drops of blood forced their way out of Ram's mouth. He looked down, a shadow obscuring his eyes. Ayumu withdrew her sword and placed her hand on the gourd charm. A grin grew on Ram's lips, and he chuckled softly.

"What, you think it's **over** now? Oh, that's funny. That's really funny." Before she even saw him move he had punched her several meters into the wall of a building, making a large impression in it. He began to laugh. Softly at first, but it became louder and louder, the sound echoing in an unnatural way. He threw back his head and let his laughter echo across the empty street. Suddenly several black spots appeared in the sky as hollows gathered to the spot. _Did he summon them or something? So does that mean that these people— things are in cohorts with hollows?_ Hitsugaya thought, grouping Ram and the woman who had attacked the day before together in his mind. Ram turned to face the assembled hollows, looking slightly annoyed. "Don't steal my thunder, losers!" With that he opened his mouth, and his teeth began to glow an acid green color. Out of his mouth he shot something small, round, and green, which was followed by a tail which looked like a short streak of green light. It moved ridiculously fast, leaving destruction in its wake. Windows shattered, the ground shook and tore it's self apart, the trees withered and died, and the hollows vaporized as it passed. Only after there was not a hollow in sight did disappear. _They're definitely not in cohorts with hollows._ Ram chuckled again. "As I was saying kid, this is just a warm up," he said, turning back to Ayumu (who now sat crumpled on the ground glaring at him). "But man, you're the first person to ever break this stuff," he said, motioning to his armor. Ayumu noticed that he was no longer bleeding, and the outer edge of the crack was already repairing its self. "So yeah, I guess you shinigami _have_ gone up since last time. I guess-" with this he began to change. His nose and mouth elongated into a snout, his hair stiffened into spines on the back of his head, he bent over and began to grow… soon a giant, armored, navy blue wolf with a sharp scorpion-like tail and spines elongating from the back of his head had replaced Ram's old form. "-it really is worth eating you!" he said, his voice echoing as it had when he laughed before. He didn't really speak as much as open his mouth to let out the words formed in his throat. Laughing, he jumped down from his invisible perch toward Ayumu.

"Ban Kai." Ram did not hesitate until a moment later. _Blood…_ he landed on the ground, his paws only about half a meter away from Ayumu. He turned his head to face Hitsugaya, who was now in Bankai. The captain had nicked a small cut on his finger with Hyourinmaru, but even the smallest bit of blood was enough to draw Ram's attention. He turned and charged at Hitsugaya. His eyes covered by shadow, Hitsugaya put up his sword in preparation for the attack. As Ram reached him he lunged forward and, with a roar, froze the lunging monster solid. As the ice shattered (along with the huge wolf) Hitsugaya ran his fingers over a small gourd imprint on Hyourinmaru's blade. Pulling his hand away, he grasped a gourd identical to the one that Ayumu had used the day before (but without the red feather dangling from it). After completely consuming what was left of Ram, he pressed the gourd back on to his blade where it became an imprint once again. He turned his head to face the assembled comrades who were serving as an audience. "I guess you were right about at least one thing, Urahara-san."


	18. Do you remember

A/N-CHA! That was just action packed wasn't it? Unfortunately, this might not be. At all. Don't loose interest though! PLEASE??? Anyway, sorry if this chapter's a little disjointed, it's a bunch of stuff I made up separately and put together. I have recently discovered that this is the only Hitsugaya epic (in the saga sense of the word) on If I'm wrong please correct me, but until then I hold to it and I'm very proud. OK!!!

X

The plan that they had made was to go back to the Urahara shop after school. There they would both accomplish what they had failed to the day before, and have a much needed discussion on what had occurred the night before. Unfortunately for Hitsugaya, that meant having to endure another long day of pretending to be a normal student. Finally, the day was over. As they walked out of the dreaded establishment, they saw a few unpleasantly familiar faces.

"What're you doing here, albino?"

"I go to school here, remember?" Hitsugaya was not going to let these boys make a fool of him again. This time he would handle the situation like the captain he was. This time—

The leader of the gang was suddenly struck in the forehead by a white and purple flying pencil eraser. "Whoops, just slipped out of my hand!" Ayumu said, with a smile that reminded Hitsugaya slightly of captain Unohana.

"Ooh, that looked like fun! Mind if I try?" said an unfamiliar female voice from behind the boys. The same boy was pelted once again with a pencil eraser, this one circular and designed to look like a soccer ball. The boy let out his breath in a cross between a sigh and a snort, and left without another word (the rest of his gang in tow). "He really is a wimp if he doesn't have you cornered, isn't he?" said Kurosaki Karin, bending to retrieve her eraser. "H-hey, it's Toshiro! I thought you didn't do the school thing!"

Hitsugaya had known that he might run into Ichigo's sisters, but it was still strange to see Karin in a skirt… "Special mission," he said simply as means of explanation. "And you can call me captain Hitsugaya now-"

"Whatever Toshiro. So, did you make any friends?" Raidon cleared his throat loudly.

"Well this is Ayumu, she's sort of the reason I'm here actually," he said, pulling over his friend who had just replaced her eraser in her bag. Raidon looked hurt.

"Oh, I was wondering who that was, I guess it must've been you… hey, wait a minute, Ayumu?"

"Um yeah, that's me," said Ayumu.

Karin pondered for a moment. "I know this is a weird question, but did you ever have a cat?" she asked, blushing. Ayumu looked startled.

"Well yeah, once. She actually just… never mind."

"Came back?" Karin finished the sentence.

"Y-yeah, but how would you know something like that?"

"I met her."

"Oh?" Asked Hitsugaya, curious.

"Yeah…"

_It was the day that Karin had first seen her brother as shinigami. He had abandoned his body on the floor of his room, and leapt out the window to fight a hollow. That night Karin went for a walk to try and get her thoughts in order. Sitting down on a park bench, she sighed._

"_Ichi-nii…" just then a cat jumped up onto the bench. It was mostly white, but it's back paws, one ear, and a spot on it's forehead was black, and it's front paws and part of the other ear were black as well. It was immediately apparent to Karin that the cat had already died. "Oh? What's a dead cat doing on a park bench?" The cat looked at her. It seemed sad._

"_Follow Ayumu," the cat said._

"_It talks!" she said, startled. It took a moment for her to realize what the cat had actually said. Her face softened. "I see. He was your owner, wasn't he?" she said, mistaking Ayumu for a male name. She looked up at the moon. "You're just like me, aren't you? Worried about your big brother, wishing that you could help him." She turned back to the cat. "What's your name?"_

"_Misorako." Karin smiled and looked back up._

"_Look to the sky, Misorako!" The cat seemed happier._

"But hey, isn't Ayumu a boy's name?"

"Um, I think it's unisex," Ayumu said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"No, no, I'm sure! Because I saw this movie once, and the main character, his name was Ayumu!" Karin insisted. Ayumu's eyebrow twitched.

"Right, but see unisex means for boys and girls—"

"I'm really positive-"

"It's unisex," Ayumu said, releasing a large and rather intimidating amount of spirit force.

"Um, ok…" said Karin, deciding that this might be a good time to drop the topic. "So, where are you guys going?"

Hitsugaya looked startled. "Well! Funny story about that, we were just- um- yeah-"

"Sounds cool, can I come?"

"What? No!"

"Why not?" asked Karin, slightly annoyed.

"B-because, it's- it's a, it's- well, it's a top secret… thing!" said Hitsugaya, trying to turn her down without hurting her feelings or giving away too much about their goal that day.

"Toshiro!" Karin said angrily (apparently he had failed. "I already know who you are, for heavens sake my brother is Kurosaki freakin' Ichigo! Don't you think I can handle to know about a 'top secret thing'?"

"Why do you want to come anyway?"

"Think about my other option. I'd have to go home and be with _dad_."

"Ah."

"What's wrong with your dad? Is he abusive or something?" Ayumu said with a concerned look.

"Well no, he's just…" Hitsugaya paused while trying to find the right words.

"A complete embarrassment to the human race," Karin finished his sentence. Hitsugaya sighed.

"Alright, I guess there's no harm." _What is it with living world girls and winning arguments?_

…

Hitsugaya was upstairs having a private talk with Urahara in a back room, while everyone else was in the basement tending to Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon's training (which Karin was watching, much to Ichigo's displeasure).

"What are your thoughts, Urahara-san?" Hitsugaya had come to learn that Urahara was no fool, though he may act like one sometimes. He was smart, crafty, and powerful. He could trick you or your enemy in an instant, and draw a correct conclusion from the tiniest clue. This sort of man was dangerous. But it was good to have one as an ally.

"From watching what happened last night, I would say that you (and I mean all the people who fought) were more suited than anyone else to fight that type of monster. It's possible that the similarities between you and Ayumu are somehow related to this. Also, the pattern of Ururu's change into a shinigami was almost identical to Ayumu's."

"Also, Urahara-san, last night I first noticed something that you might find interesting. There is an engraving of a gourd on the back of Haineko's hilt guard when released."

"Is that so? My my, this is getting interesting. I'm still working on figuring out what that boy really was, it's difficult to find similar reports other than the one from a few days ago."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Hitsugaya wanted to know what this man was thinking. He was sly, and was figuring out something in his mind that others could only stare at and ponder. It was dangerous to try and play this man's game, where it was so easy to be beaten. But the cunning intellect that made him so dangerous was what they needed him for now, and, burning for answers, Hitsugaya was willing to give this sort of man his biggest weapon: information. Because it was obvious that it would somehow be wielded for them, not against.

"Please see if you can find any of the similarities present between you, Ayumu, and Ururu in Matsumoto." Hitsugaya nodded and got up to leave, seeing as this seemed like a rather final note for the conversation. Urahara stood too, but did not move. "Also, captain Hitsugaya," he said, resting his hands in his sleeves. Hitsugaya turned. "Do you remember anything about your death?"

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "No."

"If possible, please try to remember something." What could he say to this? Should he tell Urahara how much he'd wondered? How hard he'd searched his mind in the last few days? How precious those few images that had come to him through the fog in his sleep had been to him? He decided to take the easiest route.

"I will."

…

Raidon walked up to Urahara the instant his feet touched the basement floor. If he had had any luck shape-shifting he had gone back to his normal form, but it seemed far more likely that he had not had any luck (especially considering what he did next).

"Urahara, can I borrow your fan?"

"Um, alright," said Urahara, surprised. He took out his fan and handed it to Raidon.

Who slapped him full across the face with it. "Teach me damnit!"

"They're really all hopeless…" said Yourichi, a large sweat drop forming on her head in the background.

"What's with hitting him in the face with his own fan?" asked Ayumu, lying on a boulder.

"Well Ichigo said that you've always got to come up with interesting things to hit Urahara in the face with!"

"Of course he did," said Karin, looking over at Ichigo with a confused expression. He stuck his tongue out at her.

…

Urahara and Yourichi spent the rest of the afternoon trying to train Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon. They had at least gotten something out of Kaneko and Sanjo, but Sanjo's bat wing was about the size of her forearm and Kaneko's looked like it was part of a keychain. Raidon had made no progress whatsoever in shape-shifting. It seemed that he didn't have any trouble tapping into his powers; it was using them that was the trouble.

"Ohhhhh! In your face!" said Kaneko, upon making her bat wing enlarge to about the size of her fist.

"I'm still winning!" Sanjo said, holding up her bat wing.

Standing on the sidelines, Yumichika sighed. "What an ugly way to train."

Ayumu looked at him from the top of her boulder, slightly annoyed. "Alright already man, stop with the beautiful comments! You're not that pretty!"

Suddenly Yumichika curled up into a ball on the ground and started rocking back and forth, a dark atmosphere around him. "It's ok… she doesn't know what she's talking about… I'm the only one who can make that decision and I say I'm beautiful…" he mumbled to himself.

"He might commit suicide from a comment like that…" whispered Hitsugaya, who was sitting on the boulder beside Ayumu.

"Seriously?!" Ayumu said, startled. "Um, you know I was being sarcastic, right?" she called out to him nonchalantly.

"Whew! Make it more obvious next time!" said Yumichika, obviously relieved.

"Thanks for the tip, Hitsugaya," Ayumu muttered.

A red vein symbol popped up above Hitsugaya's eyebrow. "You know, I understand that you're not used to it, but please get used to it! My name is **captain **Hitsugaya!"

Ayumu shrunk, taken aback at his sudden outburst. "You could have just asked…"

Hitsugaya's expression went blank for a moment. He turned away as though thinking about something. Suddenly, as though remembering where he was, he turned back to Ayumu. "I-I guess you're right. Sorry." Ayumu gave him a sideways glance that was both perplexed and concerned.

…

After the training session was finished (with little success) everyone had gone off to their respective homes. Hitsugaya was walking by himself along a dark sidewalk. Inwardly, he searched himself again for any hint of an addition to what he had recalled that afternoon.

"_You could have just asked…"_

_Hitsugaya's expression went blank for a moment. In his mind, he saw a young girl (about four) and her older sister (around six) standing in an old-fashioned doorframe._

"_You could have just asked…" said the younger girl, clinging to her sister and moving slightly behind her. Both girls wore purple kimonos, the older girl's decorated with falling leaves and the younger girl's decorated with white flowers. She had violet eyes._

_He turned away as though thinking about something._

Hitsugaya stopped walking and sighed. He flipped open his phone and called Ayumu.

"Listen, tomorrow…"


	19. Confession: Hitsugaya's weak days

A/N-Wow. Stuff is happening way faster than I thought it would. Ok, so about my next fic (which I will not be starting until this one is over): should it be mostly romance or some romance and some plot? Message me to give your opinion. Oh, and please review? I haven't been getting so many lately… and I would like to remind you again, please no specific info.

X

"Um, excuse me, I forgot my textbook at home and I was wondering if I could use an extra one for today," Ayumu said to the teacher as soon as she walked into the classroom in the morning.

"Of course," the teacher replied, motioning to a stack of unused textbooks in a corner.

"Thank you. Also, Hitsugaya wanted me to tell you that he will be spending the day with his father…"

Hitsugaya was running. Even with flash steps it took him almost 25 minutes to get near his destination. He knew that it probably would have helped to wait until sundown, but he figured that he could always stay late. He stopped upon arriving at the edge of a forest. Sighing, he walked in. A twig snapped beneath his feet…

The morning went by in a blur. Ayumu spent almost the entire time worrying about Hitsugaya. Several times Kaneko, Sanjo, or Raidon tried to cheer her up or at least find out _why_ she was worried about him, but they only succeeded in annoying her. The only thing that came of it was to confirm that they would still have their training session at the Urahara shop. At lunch she sat in her usual spot alone. Once she thought she saw Matsumoto out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned the woman was gone…

Hitsugaya spent the morning going about things in a very businesslike way, investigating any spirit force in the area in any logical way that he could think of. Yet, despite telling himself over and over that he was doing all he could, around noon he began to get restless. Over the past few days he had realized that perhaps it was better to let his unconscious reveal his hidden thoughts. He stopped no where in particular and closed his eyes. _It's not fair. I never really had a chance to live._ Normally he would block out an unrelated thought like this, but today he grabbed on to it and waited to see where it would take him. Unfortunately, it stopped there. He opened his eyes and took off running.

He arrived at an abandoned house, still the property of the Masami family even hundreds of years after its inhabitants had died. He stepped up onto something like an outdoor hallway. Really he thought that it was a miracle that such old wood was strong enough to support his weight. He came to a doorway. The paper that had once served as a screen had been ripped and worn away by time so that now only a few crinkled scraps were held tight by the crisscrossing wooden framework. Though it had been worn and faded by time, the moment Hitsugaya opened it he recognized it as the door that the two girls of his memory had stood in. Once again he grabbed onto the thought. It didn't seem to be leading him anywhere, but this time he would not accept that. He examined the memory as much as he possibly could. _The younger girl wore a dress much like the one that Ayumu had on the first night that they had visited the spot. She had wide violet eyes, and her wavy black hair fell between her shoulder and elbow. Overall she did look a lot like Ayumu. The older girl was wearing a purple kimono as well, but this one had a falling leaves pattern. Her hair was similar but only came down to her shoulders, and her eyes were round as well but had a more dull blue color to them. She seemed to be very protective of her sister. It was the girl that they had seen in the clearing._

Hitsugaya had not realized that he was running until he fell. Panting, he sat for a moment on the ground. Looking around he could only tell that he was somewhere in the forest. A moment ago he had known where he was going and how to get there, but now he had no idea where he was. He got up and brushed himself off. He decided that the best way to find his way back was to use the spirit force around him as a guide. As he picked through the air for the dull spirit force that the house still emanated, he could not push certain thoughts from his mind. _Why did something like this happen? That monster…_ in his mind and seeming to show up translucent behind him was a familiar mask, one of few things that had not left him and the one thing that he wished had. Suddenly he sensed a spirit force that he was glad to have not felt in a long time. When the frightening association combined with his current thoughts a voice came to him through the fog.

_A high pitched woman's voice echoed across to him. It came first in an insane cross between a giggle and a cackle, but then began to form words. "Do you hate me, kid?" _Hitsugaya's eyes opened wide, and his breath became ragged. _"You know, you'll never get away from me. How wonderful is it, that I've never left you? You will always feel pain…" the insane laughter began again, and then echoed away into the fog… _Hitsugaya whirled around, his eyes wide and his jacket billowing out. After taking a moment to catch his breath he sunk to his knees and put his hands over his face…

Ayumu, Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon were taking their usual route to the Urahara shop. Several awkward attempts at conversation were made, but none were successful. As they rounded a corner onto a deserted street, Matsumoto appeared before them. She wore a serious expression. Without a word she reached out, took Ayumu by the front of her shirt, and flash stepped away. Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon looked at each other and shrugged.

After bringing her to a nearby rooftop Matsumoto had silently lead Ayumu into soul society, and eventually to her room. She closed the door and gave a shaky sigh. She then turned to Ayumu, still leaning backwards against the doorframe.

"What I'm about to tell you I've never told anyone," Matsumoto finally began. Ayumu looked at her seriously, and wondered what it could be so important that she know for Matsumoto to give up such a closely guarded secret. "Captain Hitsugaya wasn't always who he is today. There was a time when I seriously doubted that he could become anything, the poor kid was so messed up…"

_Small, shoeless feet pounded the bare rock as hard and fast as their owner could force them. The soul of a young boy was running, desperately trying to get away from something. He wore traditional clothing, a loose white shirt tied into his flowing green pants. His white hair was slightly longer than normal for a boy of his age, and his often-sharp green eyes were now wide with fear. Panting, he looked over his shoulder without stopping and then back in front of him. A few moments later something that seemed like a hollow landed smoothly in the space that he had just occupied. Yet, this creature was unlike a hollow. It was smooth and sleek, and much thinner than most hollows. Its body was similar to that of a fox. Its sleek fur was white though it had a golden colored patch on the back of its head that ran a short way down the neck and another one on its front. It had nine white tails that turned golden at the tips. Its fingers were thin, and off each of them protruded a claw longer than the finger its self. Its mask was unusual as well. Its eyes were close together and slanted up at the ends. It protruded out slightly at the middle, in a way reminiscent of a canine snout. Its teeth spanned its whole face, but were far longer and sharper than most hollows. It had circular gold marks around its eyes. It let out an insane laugh in a high pitched feminine voice and quickly stalked after the boy. Cornered against the wall of a cliff, the boy attempted to climb the face of the rock. He managed to get fairly high up, but as he tried to lift himself higher his handhold crumbled and he was stuck. The apparent hollow sat at the bottom, swished its tail slowly back and forth, and let out another unsettling laugh._

"_Oh? How about I wait here for you until you fall, hmm?" already the boy could feel his fingers slipping, he attempted to get a better grip but he could just barely cling on. "Oh, I wonder how long you can hold on! Days? Weeks? Months? It doesn't matter to me. How sweet this is, waiting forever just to give you pain!" it began to laugh again, which obviously disturbed the boy._

"_Growl, Haineko!" the hollow-creature leapt to avoid the cloud of ash, and landed on a jagged rock about six yards away._

"_Humph. I don't want you, foul shinigami," it said. Then it turned back to the boy. "I'll see you again, kid! Don't loose that priceless expression!" and with this it leapt up, laughing, and came down far into the trees that surrounded them._

"_Need a hand?" Matsumoto said, offering him her arm from the top of the cliff. She was younger then, about ten years younger by human standards. Her figure was less full so she wore her kimono tighter, and her hair was shorter, but otherwise she was the same. After looking at her for a moment the boy took her hand and she pulled him up. She sat down next to him. "Sorry about that, how long was that thing chasing you?"_

_The boy sat down next to her and hugged his arms around himself. He was shaking slightly. "A long time. Maybe forever."_

"_Forever?"_

"_I think so. I don't know. It feels like forever. Do you have any food?"_

_Matsumoto was surprised this, but reached into her bag and pulled out her rations for the day. She could go without food for a little while if such a traumatized little boy was hungry. Chances were he hadn't eaten anything since he died. She gave it to him, and mumbling his thanks he began to gulp it down. "It can't be forever. What do you mean?"_

_Although he was obviously hungry he put down the food she had given him for a moment. "You heard it talk to me. It has time. It's been chasing me for as long as I can remember. It's a long time. I think that there must have been something before that, but I don't know… I've been hungry and that thing's been chasing me for so long that I can't remember… it's not fair…" he began to stuff food in his mouth again, Matsumoto suspected partly to conceal the fact that he was crying. _

My god, he's telling the truth,_ Matsumoto thought. _That thing was driving him insane… _"What's your name?"_

"_I don't know."_

_Matsumoto hesitated for a moment. "Do you remember anything?" she said softly._

"_No."_

_Matsumoto looked at her hands for a moment. "My name is Matsumoto Rangiku."_

_He looked up at her. "I probably won't remember it. Things leave me like that…" he looked at her seriously. "Please, don't tell anyone about this. I don't think I want anyone else to know."_

_Matsumoto smiled slightly. "I'll send you to soul society. That thing won't come after you there. I'm not sure how easy it'll be to find food, but it'll be easier than it is here! What do you say?" she said, carefully choosing her strategy to deal with someone so sensitive. He gave her a weak smile. She placed the end of her sword on his forehead…_

Hitsugaya was walking back. He had expected something to happen after sunset, and when nothing did he decided that there was no point in staying longer. His feet picked easily through the knotted roots of a huge, ancient pine tree. It seemed out of place among so many other types of trees.

"What are you doing here, foul shinigami?" the voice that had spoken belonged to a young girl. Though she spoke seriously, there was an air of mirth about her voice. She had an unmistakable Chinese accent. Hitsugaya turned. Sitting in the tree was a girl of about eight. From her spirit force she was obviously dead (though there was something unpleasantly familiar about that spirit force), but the chain of fate was conspicuously absent. She wore a red and gold robe that was a lot like a kimono although not exactly one. Her hair was straight and cut flat across the bottom just under her chin. Her feet were unusually small, and wrapped tightly with bandages. _Bound feet? Is she from the continent? _(A/N-China) "Are you looking at my feet, shinigami? You know, that's what killed me." Hitsugaya looked away, suddenly aware of the rudeness of what he was doing. "Don't be ashamed, they're perfect after all! They would've been so beautiful if they got to finish."

"What do you mean?" said Hitsugaya, trying to buy time to figure out whether or not she was hostile.

"They would've taken the bandages off when I turned 11. My family had been fighting with a clan in Japan for some time. To resolve the feud, I was going to be married into their family. I came over here so that they could see if I wanted me. In China these feet would've earned me a good husband, but I found out the hard way that things are different in Japan. They said that it was on their honor to stop my foot-binding before such a terrible thing was allowed to finish. So they killed me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"After all these years, it's good to have someone to talk to." She smiled, as though about to tell him a secret. "But look what I can do." In an obviously well-practiced motion she reached down and undid her bindings with a flourish. She stuck out her misshapen foot. Slowly it began to change. The bones began to move and regroup, until her foot was the way a foot should be. Hitsugaya decided that hostile or not, she was definitely not human. Slowly, to show that he meant no harm, he reached into the font of his kimono and pulled out his phone. He flipped it open and began to dial, but never got a chance to finish. A small hand landed over his own and closed his phone. Still in the process of falling, the girl spoke softly in his ear, "I think… if you cut me… I could go back to being the way I should be…"

Hitsugaya closed his eyes. "Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru." Without even waiting for the dragon to form he slashed at the girl in front of him, pulled the gourd (which he was now learning to associate with the non-hollow creatures that had appeared in the past few days) off of the imprint on his sword, and sucked the girl in. she did not resist at all.

When it was over Hitsugaya began moved to replace the gourd, but before he could do so a shinigami flash stepped in front of him. He was a boy of perhaps Ayumu's age, though he was much taller than her. He had dark blue hair which spiked like Ichigo's but was pushed backwards. He appeared a few feet above Hitsugaya, knees bent as though jumping and one hand on his sword. He planted his feet on the ground as Hitsugaya watched him.

"What?" Ram said, turning to face him.

_To be continued…_

X

A/N-CHA! There you go! I thought this chapter might end up too short, but it's actually my third-longest… Yay, I had some free time.


	20. What is to come and what has passed

A/N-Sorry this took so long. I've got a really long chappie coming up though. Wow, stuff is happening fast. Hey, if I made a fan/promotion site, would anyone be crazy enough to visit it? And observant observers will notice that I've added a bit to the first chapter.

X

Hitsugaya sighed and fanned himself with his hand. "This heat is oppressive…"

"It's not _that_ hot," said Ayumu.

"I'm the captain, and if I say it's too hot then it's too hot."

Ayumu laughed a little, and said "Yeah, but I'm sort of glad it's so hot. After all, that just shows how summery it is, right? And I'm happy about that because—"

"It's the last day of school!" said Kaneko and Sanjo, choosing that moment to pop out of nowhere and jump on Hitsugaya. Raidon (who had followed them out of nowhere) stared at them for a moment before jumping on to the pile.

"It's too hot for this!" mumbled Hitsugaya miserably. After conditioning himself for almost the whole time he had been a shinigami to have ice touching his skin, he did not respond well to heat.

"Don't be such a baby!" said Ram, coming out of a tree's shadow. He was wearing a school uniform to fit in, despite nobody having a clue who he was.

"What did you say? What the hell did you just say to me?" said Hitsugaya, getting up with such force that he knocked everyone off of his back and completely ignoring the shocked expressions of the rest of his party.

"Hey, you never called me!" Ram said, suddenly spotting Sanjo and pointing at her.

"But-but-but-but you were _**DEAD**_!! And-and _EVIL_! And I didn't have your _number_…" she wined in response, and hid behind Kaneko.

"Oh yeah, I don't even have a phone…" Ram said. Sanjo swung her hand at him and made an 'ah-' sound in exasperation before hitting her head.

"I don't know about that, but as for dead he has a lot of explaining to do," said Hitsugaya.

…

"And you actually gave him a gegai?" Ayumu asked Urahara.

"Of course! Imagine if a customer came in and saw us all talking to nothing, hmm?"

"Man, I keep getting confused when you guys say 'gegai.'" Said Ram, sitting on the round table that Urahara, Hitsugaya, Ayumu, Ururu, and Matsumoto were gathered around. Everyone else (which now included Karin, who had changed out of her uniform) was with Yourichi desperately trying to teach Kaneko, Sanjo, and Raidon how to use their powers.

"Oh? And why is that?" asked Urahara.

"Well 'cause gegai means something else for demons." People blinked at him. "What? Yeah, demons! What do you want from me? Why is everyone staring at me?"

Hitsugaya sighed. "We'll get back to the 'demons' thing later. For now, what does gegai mean?"

"Well it's kinda like a techniqueish thing, but not really…"

"I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate," said Ayumu, staring at him suspiciously.

"Well it's pretty rare… no, actually it _used_ to be pretty rare. It's where you go into a fake body with all the whosimawhatsits of a real one so people think that your something else. Usually we use it to make people think stupid stuff about our power." He waited for a moment, and when it was apparent that he was meant to go on he said "Like, if I used one that made me seem like a squirrel. And people would be like 'aw, cute, a squirrel!' and then I would jump out and eat them. It's a lot harder to make yourself seem more powerful than you really are though, because then you have to show your powers and it gets all messed up. It's kinda funny though, because then you get to talk like you really know what you're doing. It's not that rare anymore because folks started disguising themselves as hollows when we went into hiding."

"Hiding?"

"Well yeah. We were wreaking a lot of havoc a while ago and people really started to crack down on us. Demon slayers popping up all over the place, you know? So some genius decided that if we went into hiding for a while people would forget all about us. It worked, except that the rule was once someone breaks it we all get to come out. Not very smart. Anyway, there have been a few sightings since then, but it was the type of thing that people would just write off as someone going crazy or being alone on a dark night and getting freaked out."

Ayumu's eyes widened for a moment, but then she returned to her normal expression. "So that woman was the first to make a noticeable move, huh? And now you're all coming out of hiding."

"Yeah, that's pretty much the idea. I mean, she attacked a city! And not just a city, a city where like 20 shinigami just happened to be. We can't just ignore that one. Man, you got your work cut out for you…" he said with a chuckle.

"You too," said Hitsugaya. Several people looked at him in surprise, Ram included. Under the table Hitsugaya put on a red fingerless glove decorated with a skull surrounded by blue flames. Without warning he leapt across the table and shot Ram out of his gegai. For yet another time, everyone stared at Ram.

"What, this? I think the gourd did it. Don't expect me to explain about that though, I got no clue. I think it's a Chinese thing."

Hitsugaya looked off to the side for a moment, and then drew his sword. Ram (and a few other people) were alarmed at this.

"What ever you're planning, don't you think that we should go downstairs first!?" said Urahara, figuring that his shop being destroyed would be thoroughly inconvenient.

"Oh, right…" said Hitsugaya, slightly embarrassed.

…

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" the ice dragon spiraled upward and crashed into the ceiling, mainly because its master was not paying attention to it. Almost as though he knew what he was supposed to do, Hitsugaya ran his fingers along the flat of his blade and pulled back a tan gourd. There was a swishing sound, and a young girl of seven or eight appeared in front of him. She wore a white sleeveless dress with yellow dots near the hem and yellow sandals, and had a white change purse with gold straps to match the clasp around her arm. Her hair was cut straight across the bottom just below her chin. She had appeared about two yards in the air, and promptly fell to the floor.

"Huhwha?" she said, getting up and dusting herself off.

"I thought so. We have some questions for you, girl," said Hitsugaya, and turned to climb back up the ladder.

"You know, it's not very nice to address people as 'girl'…" she said, and followed him (everyone that had just followed him down the ladder in tow).

"What the heck?" asked Kaneko to no one in particular.

"Focus!" shrieked a thoroughly fed up Yourichi. She had come to the conclusion that she did not like Ayumu _or_ her stupid little friends.

…

"Let's cut to the chase. What do you know about these gourd things?" Hitsugaya asked as soon as the door was closed.

"Why my name's Yun, thanks for asking. Pleased to meet everyone."

"Hello! My name is Ayumu."

"Hey, isn't that a boy's name?" Ram asked as everyone else introduced themselves. Ayumu turned to him slowly and rather menacingly. "I'll take that as a no…"

Hitsugaya cleared his throat. "As we were saying…"

Yun sighed. "Gourds are used in a lot of fairy tails. They usually hold something important, most of the time it's a spirit. They probably have some sort of purifying power. Happy?"

"Ecstatic, actually!" Urahara interjected, opening his fan. "If you all don't mind, I'd like to talk to captain Hitsugaya privately for a moment," he said, tilting his head so that just a bit of his eye was visible and his chin was hidden by his fan. People got up and began to file out of the room.

"What do you think?"

"It seems to me that you, Ayumu, and the others-" he said referring to Ururu, Matsumoto, and possibly some who had not been uncovered yet "-are somehow specialized to fight these… 'demons.' Why this has happened is still unclear. Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you, did you and Ayumu get in some sort of fight?"

"No, why?"

"Both of you are releasing a lot of spirit force today. I think that even Kurosaki has noticed."

"Oh. Well I don't know—" they were suddenly reached by spikes of spirit force with an unpleasant quality that was becoming familiar. "Damn. Guess Ram was right, this is going to happen more often," Hitsugaya said, and turned to open the door. He got out running, joining Ayumu, Ururu, Matsumoto, Ram, and Yun who were already headed for the exit. Not having to move her gegai or body, Karin was the first up the ladder to follow them.

_This isn't what they usually feel like…_ "Hey, Toshiro! What's going on?"

"I think, something like a demon…?" he said, still running. _A demon?_ She thought, pausing her jog for a moment.

Ichigo slid to a halt in front of her. "Karin, this might be dangerous. You need to go home."

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm going to help. I'm not a little kid, Ichi. I don't need you to tell me what to do. And I'm coming this time."

"Karin, this is serious! I don't even know what we're up against!"

Karin shifted her weight into one foot, drew back, and kicked her brother as hard as she could in the stomach. He slid back a few feet. "I'm being serious, Ichi-nii! I'm not an idiot, or a weakling! Even if I can't help, I'm tired of sitting around waiting to hear news. I'm going to come even if I can only watch. And you'd better hurry up if you're coming too!" she said, taking off running.

"Karin…" Ichigo said, and hurried after her.

Hitsugaya turned around. Ram had not moved. "So you still won't fight for us."

"Of course I will. But I don't see what everyone's getting so worked up about. It's just a hellbird. Those things used to get defeated by normal samurai all the time! Aw, what the hell. I'll teach you a few things about demons." He took his sword out of his belt, still sheathed. He rested his palm on the flat part of the hilt (the part used for soul burial) and pushed the other end to the ground, standing the sword up. "Bite, Tenkiba." The sword, sheath and all, began to change. It grew into what seemed like a large dark blue box, long enough to come up to his shoulders, about as wide as his head, and about four fingers deep. About four inches down from the top there was a thin line that seemed to divide it into two pieces. The left and right sides came up slightly higher than the rest, and after a small gap they held in place a bar that seemed to serve as a handle. Hanging from the handle by a slim cord was a small gourd charm. He wrapped his fingers around the handle and brought it up to rest on his shoulder, like Ichigo might do to Zangetsu. "Let's get this show on the road, people!"

…

It was twilight when they got outside, and was slowly fading into night. As the group ran, Urahara once again instructed most of them (all but Hitsugaya, Ayumu, Ururu, Matsumoto, and Ram) to refrain from fighting.

"Do whatever you want but it won't be much of a show! Those things are hella weak!" Ram said over his shoulder. Feeling its spirit force, he was right. Compared to how Ram had been or even that woman who had first attacked them, this one was far weaker. The group rounded a corner, and it was instantly obvious that this one was different from the demons that they had fought so far. Essentially, it looked like a giant crow. Its feathers were red and far thicker than a crow's, and it had a horn coming off of its curved beak. Really the only impressive thing about it was its size. It was almost as big as Ram had he been after he had transformed. It was apparent that it was not very intelligent, perhaps not even as much as the common hollow. It made no attempt to hide its self as it turned sideways to avoid buildings as it flew in the street, a few loose feathers trailing behind it.

Ram whistled. It suddenly seemed to notice them. With a powerful flap of its wings and an explosion of feathers it shot towards them. Ram grasped the center of the box (Tenkiba) in his left hand, the handle in his right, and pulled. The two pieces slid apart easily. Most of he box was a sheath, and pulled back to reveal a blade almost as large as Zangetsu and much thicker. Just as Hitsugaya had done to him, he simply waited for the creature to come to him, reached out, and slashed it in half.

"What'd I tell ya—" Ram began to say to Urahara, but was cut off. Something gripped his shoulder. It looked like a hand, but the thumb was rotated so it was almost in the center of what should be the wrist, and it had long curved claws that dug into him instead of fingernails. Attaching it to a body was not an arm, but a leg.

"'Hella weak,' hm?" Said a young man. He leapt off of Ram's shoulder and landed on a nearby traffic light, grasping the pole from which the light dangled with his hand-like feet. His hands, unlike his feet, were almost normal (but for the extraordinary length of his fingers). Almost his entire body was covered in red feathers. His hair was red and spiked and flipped out behind him.

"A looser like you who barely has enough power for a human-looking form? Yeah, hella weak."

"Watch what you say, boy! I had enough power to fool you with a gegai!"

"An ant has enough power to fool me with a gegai. No, seriously, I'm hopeless with that stuff. But at least—" He launched himself towards the man, slashing in midair. He dodged but still ended up with a long scratch on his thigh. The slash continued and sliced the pole upon which he had just been perched in half. "I can bite," he said as he moved slowly past him.

He landed on the ground almost 15 feet away. "Why you—"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm allowed to fight too, right?" Ayumu said, coming up behind the man. He began to turn- but in a slash he was defeated. Ayumu pulled the gourd charm off of her sword and sucked the man in. Ram looked like he might say something, but was yet again interrupted. Another demon's spirit force spiked across the landscape. This one was far stronger, far sharper, and far more menacing. Echoing across the streets came the sound of clapping. Suddenly Hitsugaya, Ayumu, and Matsumoto recognized the spirit force that had just reached them.

_No way…_ the entire group turned to face the source of the spirit force, the one who was clapping. Hitsugaya, Ayumu, and Matsumoto had mixed expressions of shock and dread. Hitsugaya seemed almost afraid to turn around. A woman seemed to stand on an invisible platform in the sky. She wore a gold dress with tight white pants underneath, and had a slim sleek figure. She had long, thin, pointy fingers. Gold circular markings were above and below her eyes, which slanted diagonally toward a long pointed nose. On her head she wore a miniature replica of a human skull.

"My, my. Looks like everyone has gotten stronger since last time I saw them. You know kid, I really missed you. Now, let's see that priceless expression!" Her insane laughter echoed across to them as the last of the light disappeared…

_To be continued…_

X

A/N- I believe that this is deserving of a "CHA!" Anyway, I hope to add the next chapter over the weekend.


	21. Fight to the death: overcome!

A/N-Oh my god, the suspense!

X

Another demon's spirit force spiked across the landscape. This one was far stronger, far sharper, and far more menacing. Echoing across the streets came the sound of clapping. Suddenly Hitsugaya, Ayumu, and Matsumoto recognized the spirit force that had just reached them.

_No way…_ the entire group turned to face the source of the spirit force, the one who was clapping. Hitsugaya, Ayumu, and Matsumoto had mixed expressions of shock and dread. Hitsugaya seemed almost afraid to turn around. A woman seemed to stand on an invisible platform in the sky. She wore a gold dress with tight white pants underneath, and had a slim sleek figure. She had long, thin, pointy fingers. Gold circular markings were above and below her eyes, which slanted diagonally toward a long pointed nose. On her head she wore a miniature replica of a human skull.

"My, my. Looks like everyone has gotten stronger since last time I saw them. You know kid, I really missed you. Now, let's see that priceless expression!" Her insane laughter echoed across to them as the last of the light disappeared. As she clapped she began to walk down toward them.

"Can we fight now, Urahara-san?" Ichigo asked, glancing over at him.

"Ah-"

"Who said-" Hitsugaya said, a shadow obstructing his eyes, "-that _I'd_ let you fight?" he looked up at her with an intensity not shown since he had believed that Ichimaru hurt Hinamori. "She's mine! Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" he screamed, launching himself up at her. Small pieces of ice seemed to fly past her in slow motion, but she moved even faster than usual. When he reached her she placed her hand on the unsharpened back of his blade and effortlessly forced it down to his side. Before he even had a chance to follow her with his eyes, she drew a long scratch across his face with her pinky nail.

"Woo, this is nostalgic!" she said, laughing and grinning so hugely that is seemed almost impossible.

Hitsugaya leapt back. "Ban Kai!"

"That's it!" Ichigo said and ran forward, drawing Zangetsu and putting it out in front of him to go into Bankai. Before he got the chance, he was stopped by two hands, each on one of his shoulders. Matsumoto and Ayumu had stopped him.

"Captain Hitsugaya… needs to win this fight."

"You know, I met her. For a long time, I wanted to defeat her. But when I realized who she was to captain Hitsugaya, I let him fight this battle. It means more to him then it ever has to me. He needs to win."

"He can't," Ram said. He looked up at Hitsugaya and the woman, shaking. "Impossible. It's impossible. Do you… know who that demon is?"

Ichigo brought Zangetsu down to his side and turned to look at Ram. "Who is she?"

"Her name is… Kitsune…" Ichigo's eyes widened. Everyone had heard of Kitsune. She was in legends. Even today there were sightings of her, just isolated incidents every few years. They said she stalked her prey. That she never killed them, but possessed them or played around with them until they wandered back to civilization numb and mindless… That was what she was going to do to Hitsugaya now, and from the sound of it she had done it to him before…

_How is it…_ an attempted slash, a scratch on his neck. _…that after all this time…_ another slash, a scratch on his wrist. _…I still can not even avenge myself?_

Misorako was running. She had taken her humanoid form, and desperately wanted to get to Ayumu. All of the spiking spirit force couldn't be a good thing. Rounding the corner, she figured that the crowd of shinigami probably was not a good thing either. "What's going on?" she said, running up to them.

Karin turned a little to look at her. "Misorako?" She turned and looked back at the sky. "Toshiro's fighting."

Ram was still shaking, and began to speak again. "That woman… can kill an army of men in one breath…"

Kitsune whistled. "This is just as fun as ever, kid! Good times…"

"I have to win here! I have to win!" Hitsugaya said, sounding like he was close to tears. "If I win here, I beat you! I can get back everything you took from me… and I don't have to be afraid of you anymore…"

Kitsune laughed. "That's what I love about you. You keep fighting, keep struggling, when you're trying to run up a waterfall. It's really fun to watch. Even better when I know that I'm causing it." She continued with that insane laugh of hers. Roaring, Hitsugaya charged her again. She jumped over his slash, drawing three long scratches along each of his arms and shredding a bit of his sleeves. She landed behind him and sighed. "But you know kid, I am here for a reason today." Hitsugaya began to pivot on his toes, turning to face her. "And unfortunately, you're in the way. You know, just because I never killed you-" as soon as Hitsugaya was fully facing her she lunged. She stabbed her hand at a spot just above his heart. She met with no resistance, she touched him and pushed right through to the other side. Blood splattered out behind him. "-doesn't mean that I couldn't kill you." Drops of blood moved past her slowly. "After all, I've done it before." She threw Hitsugaya off her arm and down onto the street. The pavement broke up into large chunks to form a crater when he landed. Coughing blood, he forced himself to twist around and look up at her. Blood dripped from his chest to the concrete below him, and ran down his left arm in hot rivers to a puddle on the broken street. He could just barely breathe, and it was becoming harder every second. His vision blurred and went black around the edges. He could no longer support himself, and gave Kitsune a final look of hatred before closing his eyes and falling back to the concrete. His Bankai disappeared. The world went foggy around him…

…_the fog did not clear, but began to change. It solidified, froze, not into an object but into an entire landscape. He could feel the sun beating down on him, but he was not hot. Every so often he was doused with water which was cooling him off. His eyes fluttered open. Waves were crashing over him. It was fresh water, not salt water, but they were waves none the less. The water was clear, but each time they receded the water around him was streaked a diluted red. Blood. He was bleeding. Just above his heart there was an injury that seemed to go all the way through. Who was he? How did he get there? It didn't matter. He sat up. He was wearing a kimono which had a white top and green pants. The blood had already stained the left side of his shirt. He ripped off most of his left sleeve and used it as a makeshift bandage. He was sitting on a beach, but the ground beneath him was hard rock. One flat, white, bare rock that extended off forever. A pure, clear, clean sea that extended off forever. An overly light, blue, cloudless sky that extended off forever. A white hot sun that beat down on the landscape. He looked around for anything, anything at all. Behind him, far off in the distance he could make out a tiny black speck. That was something. He got up, set his course for it, and began to walk… _

"I'll miss you kid. Secretly, you were always my favorite."

Matsumoto made a move as though to attack Kitsune, but Ram caught her and held her back, placing a hand on Ururu as well. Suddenly Ayumu charged. She grabbed Kitsune by the throat and smashed her into a building, pushing her up against the wall and attempting to choke her.

"You know, you might want to draw that pretty sword. After all, I'm having no trouble breathing-" She seemed to pull a dagger out of thin air "-which means you're wide open." Ayumu realized that she was right, but a second too late. Kitsune had rammed the dagger into her side just below her outstretched arm, sliding it between Ayumu's ribs. Ayumu fell a few feet but then caught herself. She drew Chitose and leapt at Kitsune a second time. Kitsune moved to slash at Ayumu with the dagger again. Ayumu met the blade with Chitose and the dagger shattered. Kitsune ducked to avoid the rest of the slash and cartwheeled away.

"Don't forget about us! Ban Kai!" There was a huge flash of light. "Tensa Zangetsu." In an instant Ichigo was behind Kitsune. He slashed at her from behind, and realized in dismay that she was effortlessly moving faster than him. She jumped back a few feet from him. She took a deep breath in, and breathed out some sort of red gas. It did not form a cloud like it should, but instead slithered like a snake towards Ichigo. As it reached him it reared up into a cobra-like position and made a hissing sound like a viper. Ichigo slashed at it with Tensa Zangetsu. It spiraled around the sword and up his arm. As it moved up his arm it burned away his sleeve with a sizzling sound, and left burn marks on his arm almost the color of a Bankai Getsuga Tensho. It slipped up and into his mouth. Ichigo choked, and blood shot out of his open mouth. His eyes took on a red tinge and blood leaked out of the corners, and a few drops of blood leaked out of his nose. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Ayumu had used this time to somehow get into Bankai without anyone noticing, and now attacked Kitsune again.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin screamed, running over to him. There was a sizzling sound, and Karin jumped back as the creature flew out of his chest leaving a large circular burn mark and eating away some of his shirt.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" the red smoke-like creature turned to Renji and did the exact same thing that it had just done to Ichigo. Renji tried to defend but it could not be blocked or dodged. It had the exact same effect on him as it had on Ichigo.

"It's ok, Karin. I've survived worse than this," Ichigo whispered.

"Stop lying… I'm sick of it…" Karin said with tears in her eyes and her voice.

Yumichika looked like he was contemplating something very serious, then stepped forward, sighed, and closed his eyes. "It's true, he has. I'm not sure if captain Hitsugaya has, however. Hanataro, please use this time to heal him."

"Y-yes!" stuttered Hanataro, who had been almost frozen while all this happened. He ran as fast as he could without attracting attention to himself, and almost immediately began his attempts to heal Hitsugaya.

Yumichika opened his eyes and looked up towards where Kitsune and Ayumu were fighting. "At a time like this, I have no choice." He flash stepped fairly close to them. "Bloom, Fujikujaku."

"Yumichika…" said Ikkaku, surprised at his friend's uncharacteristic display of bravery. He flash stepped after him. "Grow, Houzukimaru!"

"No, Ikkaku. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me. Move, Ayumu!" she slid out of the way as Yumichika leapt forward. He moved as though to slash Kitsune, but stopped just short of touching her. The sword glowed green, and peacock feathers made of pure green energy replaced the sickle-like blade. Kitsune's image became slightly blurred as Yumichika drained her spirit force.

"How dare you-" she said, her voice muffled. She once again breathed out the red gas, which swirled around Yumichika, fully inclosing him and then drifting away from her. In seconds he was unconscious.

Ikkaku grimaced, then charged forward. Kitsune kicked him toward Yumichika. The swirling red gas disturbed its self for long enough to let him in before regaining its shape.

Ayumu rushed forward again. Suddenly the invisible platform that she seemed to stand on gave way, and she fell several feet before catching a window ledge. "What did you do to me?" she said to Kitsune, breathing heavily.

"I wonder. Maybe you're just realizing what it is to be cut, hmm?" Kitsune said in a playful tone and chuckled. Ayumu narrowed her eyes at her. Pushing herself up off the ledge she planted her hands on the air in front of Kitsune and pivoted to kick her, then kept spinning to kick again. "Or maybe you shouldn't move around so much, you'll make that poison spread faster!" Kitsune said, and began to laugh.

_Poison?_ Ayumu thought, but none the less pulled Chitose out of thin air and raced at Kitsune again.

"Poison?" Misorako breathed. "Then why is she still fighting? She needs to stop!" She cried, tears spilling down her face.

"She has a reason to fight," said Yourichi, stepping forward. "All people fight for something. To avenge something…" she looked off toward Hitsugaya (who Hanataro was attempting to heal with little success) "…to protect something…" she looked up toward Ayumu "…people fight and become stronger for these things. Without them, a fight is meaningless and nothing will come of it. Only when someone has a reason for moving will they move." Karin looked down into her brother's face (long since unconscious), and then up to where Ayumu and Kitsune were fighting. She stood, a gentile breeze ruffling her clothes and hair. Misorako too had stood and was watching the fight seriously.

Karin sighed and softly murmured "Look to the sky, Misorako." Suddenly something came up under her, pushing her into the air. Struggling to get her balance back, she lurched forward and grabbed on to the thing that she was now sitting on. It was warm and had some sort of course hair covering it. Moving her hands along it she found a handhold that felt something like a ribbon. Her eyes fluttered open, and she was shocked at what had happened. Misorako had turned into a white lioness, who Karin was now riding through the air. Looking down she saw that she had been knocked out of her body. The ribbon that she held on to was black and tied around Misorako's neck. The outfit that she was now wearing consisted of a black vest and shorts (much like the ones that she sometimes wore normally) and a white shirt with short sleeves and a Chinese style neckline.

"What the-" Yourichi said, surprised. Her expression of shock turned to one of satisfaction however, when she saw a huge white fan fly up next to it. Where the screw that holds the fan together should have been were instead a pair of huge outstretched bat wings. Each standing on a wing on one side of the fan were Kaneko and Sanjo. Yourichi had done her job. _Well,_ she thought to herself _at least two thirds of my job._ She glanced at Raidon, and he too seemed to be attempting to use his powers. His spirit force glowed slightly around him, and he was concentrating. Still, nothing was happening. _What are those things?_ He thought, concentrating on the red smoke creatures.

"What are your powers?" Sanjo said to Karin as she and Kaneko pulled up beside her.

"No idea!"

"Ok!" she said, and went on ahead. The fan turned to the side and Kaneko shot at Kitsune, then they quickly flipped around and put up Kaneko's shield. The red force field surrounded them as more of the smoke creatures surrounded them.

"This isn't gonna hold for that long…" Kaneko said. Suddenly a blue smoke flickered around them, forcing the red one away. The two colors seemed to be fighting instead of mixing. The red smoke turned inward, completely surrounding the blue one. Almost like a shift of the light, it was Raidon screaming in the center of the red smoke. It seemed to give up on him, and he fell. By unspoken agreement Kaneko and Sanjo dove to catch him. The red smoke followed them. In the split second where they caught him, the red smoke was upon them. They too fell out of the sky. It quickly rounded on Karin and Misorako. Only for a fraction of a second, they were engulfed in it. That was enough to knock them unconscious.

Ayumu was once again fighting with Kitsune, but it was obvious that she was tiring. She now made much more fluid movements (depending on momentum for speed and force) and her breath came in gasps.

"You're really going to just let this happen, huh?" Matsumoto said to Ram.

"There's no way to win…"

"That doesn't mean that we can't try! I don't care if you won't do anything, but let us! I'd rather die trying to fight her then know that I was of no use."

"Alright then, looks like my turn." said Urahara. Cane in hand, he turned and flash stepped behind Ayumu. "Looks like you could use a little break there," he said, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Switch out!" he said, pushing her backwards.

She landed on the same apparent invisible platform, panting hard. "But-"

"I know that this means a lot to you. It's just until you catch your breath." Ayumu seemed to accept this answer. The comb that she wore in Bankai slipped slightly, she pushed it back in firmly and stood up.

"Awaken, Benih-" Kitsune reached out and drew a long scratch across Urahara's face. His expression did not change.

"Ah, I hate people like you. Someone who doesn't know how to properly beg for their life, aught to just die!" she moved to hit him, but was stopped. A large beam of light, taking the shape of a child's hand, had pushed her into the building beside her and now held her there. Ram had released Matsumoto and Ururu.

"Um, Kisuke-san… if you don't mind, I would like to fight." The light hand grabbed Kitsune and dragged her out into the middle of the street.

"Growl, Haineko!" Matsumoto said as she and Ururu flash stepped about 20 feet form Kitsune. The ash blew over her, doing no harm. Matsumoto grimaced. Ururu once again extended her arm, the light extending off of it.

Kitsune sighed. "So many distractions," she said, and breathed out more of the red smoke creatures. Suddenly Ram opened his eyes and flash stepped in front of them. He put his hand out as though to perform a spell, but a white translucent orb shot from his hand without any incantation. It hit the red smoke and pushed it around somewhat, but only deterred it for a moment. It came back at him. He dodged, but his hand still got burned.

"Hanataro, how are things coming over there?" Yourichi called.

"Not good, he's not responding!" was the reply.

"Well keep at it," Yourichi said, and took off toward the fight. Hanataro sighed and continued as he was.

Yourichi flash stepped behind Ram. "Where'd you learn that technique?"

"An exorcist used it on me once."

"Show me it again?"

"Well it kinda hurt actually, and I'm taking that to mean it's a bad thing… wait a second." He undid the cord securing the gourd charm to Tenkiba's handle and looped it around his hand a few times, the gourd hanging around his wrist. "Ok, let's see what this does!"

"Wait." Yourichi placed her hands on his shoulders and closed her eyes. The back and shoulder fabric of her shirt seemed to spontaneously shred, and the rest was so tattered that it simply blew off her revealing the uniform underneath. "This technique is called flashcry. I don't expect you to do it on your own, but for now it should help. Ok. Go!" Ram fired off several shots in a row, each far more powerful than the first. Ram and Yourichi grinned. The same type of blast came from another direction. It was Ururu who had fired, and she looked quite pleased with herself. Yourichi caught Matsumoto's eye and nodded to Ururu.

"I may not be as good as Yourichi, but at least I can lend you my spirit force," she said, putting her hand on Ururu's shoulder. Kitsune made more of the smoke creatures, and then flipped away toward Ayumu. Though uneasy at leaving her, it was all that they could do to keep the creatures at bay.

It was now obvious that the poison was affecting her. She was no longer near the building but had slowly eased down into the street and walked out toward the middle.

Kitsune landed in front of her. "Don't think that I forgot about you now!"

"I didn't," Ayumu panted. "Looks like… it's just us again…"

"Oh, poor girl! She looks so tired!" Kitsune said, charging forward and kicking at Ayumu's legs to trip her. She jumped up to dodge.

"I am tired… thanks for noticing. So I guess… I'll just have to move so fast… that I don't notice." At this point they started to full out fight, both of them completely serious.

No matter what Hanataro tried, Hitsugaya would not respond to treatment. Even Hisagomaru had no effect on him. Eventually he had just given up and continued using normal treatment even though it was having no effect.

…_How long now had he been walking? Hours? Days? Weeks? Forever? Certainly a long time. His feet had rubbed raw from walking, and he left red footprints behind on the white stone as he walked slowly. Blood had long since soaked through his bandage and had somehow not stopped, every few steps there was a drop or two to accompany the footprint. His left arm hung limp at his side. No matter how far he went, he did not seem to come closer to his goal. Perhaps he was coming closer, he didn't know. But it always seemed to be far off in the distance. Away from the cool water he could feel the sun beating down on him with every step. But he had to keep walking. Suddenly his legs gave way, and he fell to the ground. He turned his head and rested his chin on the scratchy rock to look in front of him. Suddenly he realized that he had reached his destination, and almost smiled with the irony of it. It was a skeleton. The bleached bones blended into the rock, the dark spot that he had seen was the remainder of a purple kimono with autumn leaves that the skeleton had been wearing when it died. It was a small skeleton, probably that of a young girl. Looking around he saw other skeletons, though none of their clothes were preserved. 'I see. So I came all this way just to die.' He closed his eyes, wondering what complete disappearance would feel like. Hearing a noise, he opened his eyes again. It was a footstep. Walking into his field of vision came a pair of feet, clad in white socks and straw sandals. The boy walking up to him wore a modified black kimono and a white jacket. The pants of the kimono were ever so slightly slimmer than usual, and the top had short sleeves. The jacket was similar to a vest on top but longer. It was tucked into his belt and the bottom came just down to his hips. Along the bottom it was decorated with a black pattern of vertical stripes and circles. On the back was the character for the number ten, surrounded by a black diamond shape. He had spiky white hair and sharp green eyes. Spiraling up his body, visible on his cheek, was a large dragon tattoo._

"_Pathetic!" the boy said, stopping in front of him._

"_I went as far as I could, and now it's over for me. What's pathetic about that?" he said quietly._

"_I can't believe that we're even remotely related, let alone part of each other. It's sad! You're just lying there on the ground! Do you even know who we are? We're friggin' Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro, that's who! And look at you, lying there like you give up. You can't do that anymore. We never could. If you're going to let her destroy you again, I might as well just leave and let you disappear."_

"_I died. I'm dead. How is it bad to lie on the ground if you're dead?"_

"_You call that an excuse?" it was a girl's voice that had spoken. Turning his head he saw a girl of about 14 years old. Her eyes were violet. She had black wavy hair, pinned up on one side by a comb decorated with a with flower and makeshift hair sticks. She wore tight black pants that came down halfway on her calf, a diamond shaped halter top, and some sort of white scarf with holes in it around her waist. "Just because you're dead doesn't mean that you get to give up!"_

"_You let her kill you. You let her destroy you. Now you're going to let her take away your afterlife too?" the boy continued._

"_I didn't have a choice. It wasn't up to me."_

"_You're right," The boy responded. "When she killed us, we fought back with everything we had. When she tortured us, we tried to get away. Even just now, when she killed us again, we went down fighting. But this, this is just you being pathetic and me trying to talk you out of it. I can't go back without you. But if you're just going to accept death like this, I'd be glad to go on and find some better waste of my time."_

"_I can't do anything about it. I can't move. I can't even breathe."_

"_Yeah you can do something about it!" the girl said. "You can make up your mind. You can choose to get up instead of just lie here and disappear. You can make yourself take a step. No matter how painful it may be, you can take another one. You can go back. I went back. Ururu went back. Heck, even Misorako went back. If you disappear now you will fade forever. If you force yourself to live you will always glow, however faintly."_

"_Stand, Captain Hitsugaya! Let us show them that even if we die fighting, we will never go down!"_

Suddenly Hitsugaya's Bankai returned. His eyes shot open. In enormous flash of spirit force he was up and on his feet. His left arm and part of his chest froze over with a thin layer of frost which he controlled to move it. Suddenly he raced towards Kitsune, and slashed her across the middle. As though they had not come into contact at all, the sword moved right through her side without stopping.

"T-that's impossible! You were dead!" Kitsune shrieked as she attempted to regain her balance.

"Yeah, so?" Hitsugaya said, bringing his sword down on her shoulder. "As long as I want to be alive, the likes of you can not kill me anymore." He slashed at her again. She dodged, but he etched a thick scratch across her face. Suddenly, he seemed to think better of it. He turned his back to her, facing Ayumu. "You can finish her off. I've already defeated her."

"Why you-" There was a slight gleam as Chitose slashed, and then she was gone.

_To be continued…_


	22. Aftermath

A/N-CHA! Wow, I really liked that last chapter. **PLEASE READ THIS**!! After doing some research I have updated Kitsune's description quite a bit. I suggest that you go back to chapters 5, 19, 20, and 21 and read the new description, because the rest of the story will be really confusing if you don't. If you're coming into the story after this chapter was added, um, never mind. I'm starting this new thing, if I have a '0' in the middle of a line it means 'elsewhere.'

X

Hitsugaya had been healing at an extraordinary rate, and was already allowed to walk around the hospital freely only a day later (with almost everyone else still bed-bound). He had stolen away to a back room for some privacy. There was a long, full-length mirror and a chest of drawers in the otherwise bare room. Hitsugaya looked in the mirror and sighed, placing his hand on the green strip of cloth that held Hyourinmaru to his back. It was not every day that he took off his captain's jacket, but now he did. He looked in the mirror again, obviously thinking about something. He put his jacket back on and left the room.

0

"Man, I feel like royalty!" Ichigo exclaimed, leaning back in his bed and putting his hands behind his head.

"Don't, idiot," said Renji from the bed next to him.

"I'll feel however I want to damnit! I'm used to being half-healed in some gutter and going to fight again right away, so this is special treatment for me."

"Shut up, no one asked you to brag about how tough you are!"

"Who's braggin', hmm? It's true!"

"Seriously?" asked Karin, sitting in one of the chairs set aside for visitors. She had been completely healed overnight, but was still there to keep tabs on Ichigo.

"S-shoot, I forgot you were here…" said Ichigo, erupting into a slight coughing fit.

"Well don't overdo it! I can barely believe that you're still alive!"

"I told you Karin, that was nothing."

"Actually if it wasn't for the fourth squad and Orihime you'd be dead so many times over…" Renji interjected with a grin.

"Well then good thing for the fourth squad and Orihime!" Ichigo said in an assertive tone.

"Hey!" Ayumu broke into the conversation from a few beds over, pointing at Ichigo. "Isn't Ichigo sposta mean strawberry?"

"Isn't Ayumu sposta be a boy's name?!" he came back.

Her eyes slipped out of focus slightly and she leaned back. "…fine, we're even," she said.

Ichigo leaned back as well, but continued to look at her out of the corners of his eyes. "What's with how she's talking?" he said softly to the group around him. Ayumu had been speaking differently since she came to, though it was becoming less pronounced as the day went on. Her accent was gone, but she wasn't speaking perfect Japanese either. Her vocabulary was limited and she abbreviated or mispronounced some words in the way that a small child might.

"She always did that. Even when she was a little kid," said Misorako, who was sitting on Karin's lap. "If she got sick or hurt she would speak Japanese. Sometimes words that she shouldn't have even known and didn't remember later. We never found out why."

"What a weirdo…" Ram commented from a chair away. He had rolled up his sleeves and his hands and forearms were bandaged.

0

"Yumichika…" Ikkaku said, speaking to him for the first time that day. Yumichika turned his head to look away, ashamed. "What… the hell are you doing? You haven't looked at me all day."

Yumichika turned and allowed his profile to be seen, but still did not look at Ikkaku. "I assume that you don't want me to," he said, looking down at his hands.

"Why would you assume something stupid like that?"

"You mean… you don't hate me?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I have a magic-type soul-slayer, or because I haven't told you about it for all these years…?"

Ikkaku laughed and leaned back. "Is that all? Listen, if something beautiful but lazy bothered me I would've left you in the dust the day I met you. The point is that losers like us get each-other. The way that we know we're really friends is that if one of us is dying in a fight the other won't try to help. No matter what, we'll have that. So get this through that pretty-boy head of yours: I ain't goin' anywhere!" Yumichika turned to look at him and smiled.

0

"Still nothing," said Hanataro, approaching Ayumu's bedside again. For almost the entire morning they had been running tests to identify the poison, but so far they had not even been able to detect it. It was definitely still effecting her, but the effects were ebbing away. The one thing that everyone had identified was that it seemed to cause strange spirit force fluctuations, which was why she had not been able to maintain her position in the sky.

"It's alright, I didn't really expect anything anyway."

Hanataro looked down for a moment. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, thanks though. You guys do a really good job of running things around here."

"T-thank you! I'll go keep working on that for you, so, um, yeah!" he said, blushing furiously, and then ran off. "Oh, good day captain Hitsugaya!" he said, bowing slightly as he ran but not slowing down. In fact, once he was mostly past the captain he sped up quite a bit.

"Hello… Yamada…" he said, watching the boy run, puzzled why he had bothered to say hello but not stopped to talk or even wait for a response.

Hanataro continued running almost at top speed until he reached the nearest door, ran out, and shut it behind him. Finding himself alone in a courtyard, he fell, panting, to his knees. _After only a day he's really recovered that much? What is he?_ He thought back to the night before, how he had been trying to heal the captain, how he had been unresponsive for so long, how he had suddenly come back so much stronger… _Ichigo comes back strong after he's hurt, but nothing like this! Nothing I did would heal him, and if we brought him back to soul society like that I'm sure that he would've been pronounced dead! It wasn't just a one-time thing either, his spirit force is still off the charts! It's impossible… that boy…must be either a monster… or a god!_

0

Ichigo propped his pillow up and leaned against it. "There's something I don't get though. Kitsune just means fox spirit right? So why was she so evil? I mean, if I told someone random here about that they would probably tell me that I was overdoing it."

"Well, it's a kinda weird thing about demons- like, even though 'demon' means like 'the most evilest thing ever' they don't really _have_ to be evil," Ram said. "Kitsune is actually a type of demon, but they're pretty rare and most of the times people see one it's her. There are 'common Kitsune' which are fox spirits that aren't crazy evil, they've just got a kinda messed up sense of right and wrong. Those ones aren't really that powerful though, before her people thought that the most tails a fox could have was three for a while. I think the official record was seven…?"

"How many did she have?"

"Nine, I thought that was obvious!"

"You've certainly regained your personality," said Matsumoto, still slightly annoyed with him.

"Well yeah, she was scarin' the hell out of me!"

"At least he's honest…" said Raidon, sitting in a nearby bed next to those of Kaneko and Sanjo.

"Wait, so she did so much stuff that most of the stories were about her?" Renji said, unusually interested.

"Yeah. Stories about fox spirits from a really long time ago are kinda uncommon and usually not that bad, but then they started showing up all over the place and the foxes were really evil. That was all her."

"But she can't have inspired so many stories, there was only one of her after all…" Ichigo said, calling on his slim knowledge of myths and legends.

"Well she did have some kinda way to duplicate herself. The copies weren't that powerful compared to her, probably like three tails at most, but that's still a hell of a lot. I mean, I only ever got to two tails with the wolf thing, and it went away in like a second. Oh, but then right before we went into hiding her copies randomly got really good, but she didn't use the good ones so much. I dunno what happened with that."

"Hang on though," Karin said, "there was some stuff that she didn't have that she had in legends."

"Like what?"

"Well she didn't use foxfire, or any illusions—"

"Illusions are probably just what some folks made of her torturing people until they went insane, or maybe because she could shape-shift. Thing she turned into looked a little like a hollow actually. Foxfire was probably the stuff she used on these two," he said, motioning to Ichigo and Renji.

"But that stuff wasn't fire—"

"It was red, hot, and hurt like hell. In my book that's fire," Renji said.

"Come to think of it, it kind of glowed… if you were randomly ambushed by that stuff and didn't know what was going on, you would definitely call it fire."

"I guess that makes sense. Alright, but what about her jewel? In myths the fox usually have some sort of jewel that's really important to them, and if you take it you can control them. Why didn't she have one?"

"I don't know, maybe she was hiding it, or someone took it already, or only less powerful ones have something like that… could be anything, how should I know?"

"Uh, 'cause you're like a demon?" Sanjo said, emerging from an intense discussion with Sanjo involving the perfect temperature for soda.

"I'm not really a demon anymore. It's kinda weird actually, I was a demon for like ever and then I was just like 'ok, and now on to something completely different!'"

"Wait though," said Ichigo, still involved in the discussion about Kitsune "aren't there more like her out there?"

"Yeah, but the rest of them aren't as powerful or as messed up. It'd be like those ones that come disguise themselves as humans and try to live with people, and like get married and have kids and then get scared by a dog and run away."

"What do you think happened that made her turn out so wrong?"

Ram looked off to the side. "I don't know. Maybe it's just her nature. Demons are like that, you know?"

0

Hinamori knew it was a bad idea to visit Hitsugaya in the hospital, but eventually she couldn't take it anymore. Walking into the hospital she had seen him, but lost in thought he had not noticed her. Suddenly apprehensive, she decided to put off her talk with him by visiting the other patients.

"I don't recognize you, what's your name? I'm Momo Hinamori," she said to Ayumu after greeting the other patients.

"I'm Masami Ayumu. I don't have a squad yet, but I hope I'll get one soon. Nice to meet you!"

"Oh, so you're the one that everyone's been talking about!"

"People have been talking about me?"

Hinamori nodded. "Mm, a lot lately."

"I don't know whether to be flattered or upset…" Ayumu said with a nervous laugh.

"I'd go with flattered, judging by what people are saying. They say- well-"

"Go on…?"

"That you're more powerful than Kurosaki Ichigo."

"What was that?" Ichigo said rather loudly from a few beds over.

"Oh, I knew that silly!" Ayumu said cheerfully.

"That's messed up, don't say stuff like that when I'm right here…" Ichigo said, a shadow hanging about him. Hinamori and Ayumu laughed, which was followed by an awkward silence. Hinamori looked at the floor to her left, taking on a worried expression.

"Huh? What's the matter?" said Ayumu.

Hinamori looked at Hitsugaya, who could just barely be seen sitting on the outside walkway resting against the corner of the building. _"You stayed with me when no one else would. Without you, I wouldn't have had anything to hold on to when I needed it most. I'll never forget that. I'm sorry that you still have to remember me that way, after all these years."_ She sighed. "I guess Rangiku-chan told you the first half of this. When I first met Shiro-chan he was a mess. He didn't know anything about himself. He cried in his sleep. I remember how happy he was to remember his name. Even the tiniest thing he remembered made him ecstatic. His birthday was the only really useless thing he remembered, but it made him just as happy." She sighed again. "Eventually he realized how worried I was for him, and he's been trying to convince me that he's fine or push me away ever since. I don't think he knows anything else. That's the only reason he's so rude like that you know, he's convinced that being close to him will hurt people. He's an idiot!" tears began to well in her eyes and flew as she shook her head. "How could being friends with someone like that hurt a person? Doesn't he know anything?! I just-"

A small hand slid on to her cheek, the background bright white for a moment as Ayumu stood in front of Hinamori. "It's ok. So basically, you're worried about him, but don't want to upset him by letting him know." Ayumu opened her eyes to look at Hinamori. "I don't know if that can happen in a friendship. Don't worry, I'll go talk to him." And with that she turned and walked off, her hair and clothing swaying as she walked. Like a captain, she had come and gone without a sound.

Hinamori made a sound between a sniffle and a gasp and put her hand over her mouth. _Just for a second there… she reminded me of the captain Aizen I thought I knew… can a person like that really exist?_

0

"So, 'Shiro-chan' huh?" said Ayumu, sitting down cross-legged beside Hitsugaya.

"How many times do I have to tell you, my name's- oh, Ayumu. Without your accent I thought-"

"That I was Hinamori? I just met her. Don't worry, I'll keep calling you captain Hitsugaya."

"But you don't call me that now, you just call me Hitsugaya."

"Oh, really? Well then I'll start."

Hitsugaya sighed. "Actually- well, that sort of reminded me of something I wanted to say."

"Oh, you're going to stop being so strict and let us call you whatever we want?"

Hitsugaya seemed somewhat amused by this, which slightly worried Ayumu because she had expected a typical annoyed response. "No, that's not it." He sighed and looked up at the deep blue sky, clouds drifting by at a calming slow pace. "The whole squad's being rearranged. Urahara-san was right, we're somehow specialized to fight demons. They're redoing the squad around it; almost everyone is being shifted out. They're calling us 'specialized shinigami' for the time being, but I have a feeling it'll stick. Looks like you'll be in this squad then, they're devoting it to us. You'll be fairly high ranking, a lot of people have been saying that you're stronger than a captain and you'll keep getting stronger. In fact, I think…" he looked down at his hands "…you should be captain."

"W-what?"

"You're stronger than me. You would probably do a better job. It only makes sense, it's the natural order of things," he said, his face slightly pained.

Ayumu blew her breath out. "In a way that's sort of selfish, you know."

"What?"

"You're worrying so much about other people that you're not stopping to think about what they want! Making a sacrifice for someone who only wants you to be happy sort of defeats the purpose. Tell me something honestly, do you like being captain?"

"It's not something I couldn't let go of-"

"Hitsugaya, I said honestly."

He paused for a moment. "Of course I do. I'll admit it, I'm smaller than almost everybody else. I may not get the respect I want, but I get enough that if I have to I can protect people without them stopping me."

"Ok then, so you're happy. You have to realize, that's important to me too. I won't take this from you at the price of your happiness," Ayumu said with a gentle smile. Hitsugaya returned the smile and leaned back, seeming to understand that it was no longer up for debate. "Besides," she went on, "the stuff you said isn't even true. I'm not stronger than you, or a better leader. You came back from the dead, Hitsugaya. I'm not sure how much stronger than that a person can get, but I'm sure you will." She placed her hand on his cheek as she had done to Hinamori earlier. "Waste your worries on something better, hmm?" With that she got up, turned, and began to walk back toward the door she had come out of.

"You can certainly act like a captain!" he called after her.

"That's your problem!" She called back without turning, giving a wave of her hand.


	23. A familiar face among those misplaced

Uh, disclaimer- I don't own superman?

X

"_Can you hurry it up a little? I'm losing tails by the second here!"_

"_Be patient, Kitsune. It has to be gradual, and someone like you won't disappear from being in a place like this."_

"_How do you know? Remember, you had a gegai to protect you, I got the full shot. Maybe if I just had my jewel back I might survive your little plan…?"_

"_We'll just have to risk you going without it then, won't we?"_

…

Though she was not totally healed, Ayumu had been allowed to go home the following day because she was worried that her family might become suspicious. Within a few days most people had healed enough to be released from the hospital.

Due to the changes being made to his squad, Hitsugaya had been relieved of all paperwork. Thus, the captains meeting that he was attending was the only thing that he had on his schedule for at least a few days. Though there was some talk of the recent appearance of demons, otherwise the meeting was uneventful. Hitsugaya noticed that throughout the meeting several of the other captains glanced at him when they thought he was not looking. When the meeting was over, Soifon (who seemed to have been bullied into it by the other captains) finally approached him.

"Captain Hitsugaya, I understand that you're at a sensitive age, but please try to keep your emotions under control. Honestly, your spirit force has been rather noticeable."

Hitsugaya turned, his arms crossed, his eyebrow twitching a bit. "Thank you for the comment, I will try to keep it to a minimum," he said with a slightly evil grin. "However," he said, the grin vanishing, "'_sensitive age?_'" Soifon looked slightly startled, and nobody said a word as he turned and left. _Just from being annoyed he produces a spirit force like that?_ Soifon thought. _So the other stare… was calm? What the hell is going on with that boy?_

Since he had nothing else to do that day Ayumu had invited him and Ichigo out to lunch (simply because she could). Hitsugaya headed back to the squad barracks before leaving for the living world. Suddenly he stopped and turned his head to look behind him.

"Are you angry with me, captain Zaraki?"

Kenpachi revealed himself from behind a nearby building. "Do you… know what my name is?"

"Zaraki Kenpachi…" said Hitsugaya, slightly confused.

"Wrong. I don't have a name. Zaraki is just the town where I grew up. Kenpachi is my nickname, they give it to the strongest death god in every generation. You know what it means?"

"No matter how many times he is killed, he will never die."

"Right. Like hell I'm angry with you! From what people have been sayin' you're the one that should have that name. But," he drew his sword and pointed it at Hitsugaya, "it's the only one I've got! Come; fight me to the death for it!" There was a tense pause.

"Nice try, captain Zaraki."

"Well, it was worth a shot right? Good motivator, I think maybe one of my best baits. Oh well. Back to hunting Ichigo down." He stuck his sword back into his belt and turned to walk away. "You can have that name after I die, looks like you'll be around for a while after that," he called as he walked, waving his hand.

…

"Are you sure it's alright for you to be up and walking around already?" Ichigo asked Ayumu. He was wearing a purple short-sleeve shirt with "nice vibe" printed on it and ripped jeans. He was sitting outside a restaurant at a small round table with an umbrella over it, milkshake in hand, with Hitsugaya and Ayumu.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm no expert, but the poison's gone and I'm almost totally healed." Ayumu was wearing a light purple summer dress, and leaned her arm against the table near her plate (which, other than a piece of toast, had been mostly cleared).

"You probably took the worst beating of all of us. Well, I mean besides this guy who frickin' _died_, but he's like superman now so that doesn't count," he said, motioning to Hitsugaya.

"Shut up," said Hitsugaya, who wore a plain black v-neck shirt and tight grey jeans.

"Well it's true! You know though, other than that whole dying thing which I'm not going to comment on, you showed perfect 'I have no clue what I'm doing but I'm going to win anyway' form."

"What?"

"Yeah, yeah! It happened to me all the time back when I was a ryoka. You get all beat up, have some sort of inner thing, and then come back really strong and win! It's the only way to do it if you ask me." Hitsugaya gave him a confused look.

"Wait, so give me a play-by-play of this fight," Ayumu said, apparently also confused.

"Ok. So first you have the pre-fight chat with the person, and they tell you something about your power difference and how you can never win against someone like them. Then you have this little beating-around-the-bush fight and they keep saying how badly you're gonna lose, or they might tell you to use your full power or something. So then you start sort of fighting, but they're just having fun with you because you're so weak. Then they give you a pretty bad injury, and as you're falling they start lecturing you about something about fighting. Then you start mentally listing all the things that are wrong because you lost too much blood. I'm serious, even without knowing it at some point in the fight you'll be like 'I can't move' even without trying or wanting to. So then you go unconscious and the person starts doing something else, mostly fighting someone else or giving you a little mini-lecture and then walking away. Meanwhile you're having some sort of messed-up twisted adventure in you're head that's gonna teach you about the thing that they were lecturing you on. Then you're done, and you randomly pop back up and the person's like 'impossible!' and you start fighting again. So now you're crazy powerful and they're like 'this guy…' and you beat them. Oh no, but you gotta save them after that. I mean, if you're still alive."

Hitsugaya blinked at him several times. "… You're right, that is pretty much what happened. Sort of."

"So… there really are several lecture opportunities," Ayumu said, "but you don't have to take advantage of all of them."

"Right."

"You're taking quite an interest in this, huh Masami?" Hitsugaya asked, raising an eyebrow at Ayumu. She did not notice, but seemed to be contemplating her next question. "Masami… HEY! AYUMU!"

"Ah? Why are you screaming at me?"

"At least look at me to let me know that you heard me!"

"Oh, were you talking to me?"

"Yes!"

"Oh. You called me Masami didn't you?" she asked in a slightly childlike manor.

"Yes…"

"I'm not really used to responding to that, no one calls you by your family name where I'm from," she said, leaning her head against her hand. Her eyes were slightly out of focus.

"That's true."

"Wait though," she said, directing her attention back to Ichigo, "at what point in the fight does your vision start to blur?"

"Ah, that's when you're listing all of your symptoms."

"That makes sense." Her cell phone rang. "Oh, sorry, hang on a second," she said, taking out her phone and turning to walk a short distance from the table. "Hello?" she winced and held the phone slightly away from her ear. "e- Emma… no, no… what was that? I couldn't hear you, you made me deaf… -e" Hitsugaya stared after her looking surprised and slightly disturbed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I guess I'm just tired, that's all," Hitsugaya said, placing his hand on his head as he might if he had a headache.

"A half-baked answer like that just annoys me…"

Hitsugaya looked back up at Ayumu. "It's just… for this whole time, somehow, I thought she was someone else I knew. Even when she said 'where I'm from' it didn't ring a bell. But hearing her speak English like this, with that notion still in my head… it seems like something is terribly off."

"Uh… I don't know anything about that, sorry."

"e- I've got to go… yes, I'll call you back… yes, really… ok, bye… -e"

"Who was that?"

"A friend from America… do you still get long distance charges on a cell phone?"

"I think so."

"Man! …We've been done for a while now haven't we?" said Ayumu, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah I guess so."

After dividing the bill and each paying their separate parts, the three split up. Hitsugaya headed back to soul society, simply because it was familiar. He sat down on the couch at the squad barracks and put his hand over his face. _Somehow… the more I remember her… the more similar those two seem…_ an image crashed down on him like a wave. A young girl of perhaps four sat on an outdoor hallway-like porch. Her feet were bare, her sandals lined up beside her. Her purple kimono was decorated with a pattern of white flowers. Her black wavy hair came down her back about to her elbow. She was grinning. Her eyes were large and almost circular, with violet irises. Beside her was a girl of around six. She too had her sandals resting beside her. They looked very similar but for the older girl's duller eyes, falling leaf patterned kimono, and shorter hair. She too was smiling. The girls laughed.

"_Look at that pretty shadow," said the older girl, sighing and pointing to the shadow of a tree in the woods that surrounded their house. "It kind of looks like it could be a person, doesn't it?"_

"_I don't know it kind of scares me…" the younger girl said, tilting her head to the side._

"_Oh? Well then I'll just have to make one that doesn't scare you, won't I?" she said, and began to make silly shapes with her hands, looking at the shadow that they made on the wood below. The girls chuckled,_ and the image faded…

Hitsugaya breathed heavily upon coming out of the memory. "How… did I find my way to a place like this? Things that I never knew seem more like a memory than what I've done in the past few days…" he muttered to himself.

O

Ayumu went back to her house and flopped down on her bed. _I guess I'm not as healed as I thought…_ She thought to herself with a sigh. Ayumu's window opened and Hanataro clambered in.

"S-sorry, I figured maybe I would come for your healing session a little earlier today," he said waving his hands, embarrassed.

"Oh, that's good timing actually. Thanks."

"A-ah," Hanataro said, and began to heal her.

Ayumu sighed and closed her eyes. "I've been meaning to ask you, what do you make of captain Hitsugaya?"

Hanataro paused for a moment, but answered honestly. "At first I got kind of scared of him, but I regret it a little. Even if he's getting more powerful, he's still the same person. Things are changing for him, but that doesn't mean that he has to change, right? He would never do anything bad, being more powerful has nothing to do with that."

"Ah, well that's good. Well, but… really, I meant does he seem familiar to you. Like, does he have a common face or something like that."

"Uh, I don't really think so, why?"

Ayumu sighed. "Well it's just… most of the time I have this tiny little feeling, like 'I don't belong here.' I'm used to it, it's no big deal. But when I'm alone with captain Hitsugaya, it goes away. Like I'm back in the place I'm thinking I belong, even though I don't know where that is. It's not just because I'm friends with him, none of my other friends did that before. I'm wondering, does he remind me of someone?"

"I don't know," Hanataro said. There was a long pause. A hell butterfly drifted in through the still open window. Hanataro lifted a finger and let the black butterfly perch on it. "Miss Masami Ayumu is summoned to give a demonstration of her powers at the training grounds of the 10th squad. Please come immediately. That will be all."

Ayumu sighed. "They're not very polite, are they?" she said, getting up.

"What was that all about?" Hanataro asked as the hell butterfly fluttered back out of the window.

"Well, captain Hitsugaya said that I'd be shifted into his squad, they're probably testing to see what seat I'll be."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Well, I should probably leave my body here," she said, took out a red fingerless glove, got out of her body, and left through the window (Hanataro close behind).


	24. Unknown memory and unexpected weakness

A shinigami stepped silently onto a wooden floor. He had remembered the wood as a light golden, but centuries of neglect had stained it a dark grey-brown. He looked around and sighed at the thick layer of dust that covered his former home. He appeared to be around 30. His eyes were a dull blue and large for a man (but not so much as to be awkward). He had black hair that had slight waves in it but was mostly strait. It was a bright hot day outside, but other then the patch of light left where the rice paper had been torn out of the door by over 500 years worth of weather it was dark inside the house. He moved forward and opened a door to another room. This room was completely deserted other than a moth-eaten futon on the floor and an alter just beyond it. He sighed again remembering how his mother had spent her final days on that futon, wanting to die surrounded by all of her children and not just the first-born son that was the only one left alive. He stepped beyond the futon and knelt before the alter. For the first time in nearly 500 years he looked up at it. In the center of the alter was a portrait of two girls, one about six and the other around four. He looked down at the floor and clenched his trembling fists against the dusty wood.

"I may be going to see you today, I don't know. Please forgive me for taking so long to find you. I've been looking all of this time, but because of my weakness… please. I only want to see you happy and well. All of these days I have only wished for this." He was not sure what else should be said or done, so he bowed before the alter and got up to leave.

…

When Ayumu arrived at the tenth squad training grounds she had expected to be greeted by Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, but was surprised to also find Ururu and Ram there.

"All of us got the same message," Hitsugaya explained. Alarmingly, a large crowd of spectators was gathering. At the front of the crowd were captain Kurotsuchi and captain Unohana.

"That creepy captain is staring at us…" Ayumu whispered to Hitsugaya.

"His name is Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and yes, he is," he whispered back. "Captain Unohana, captain Kurotsuchi, why are you here?" he addressed the two captains.

"Actually, _both _of us are here for research. I'll need to know if there are any unfamiliar specifications about healing, like say, recovering from a potentially fatal injury in a day with minimal treatment," Unohana said.

"And seeing as it's you I figured you probably wouldn't hand over one of your little friend buddies for experimentation, so this is the next best thing," Kurotsuchi added.

"Since you've been in the living world for so long you're probably wondering about this crowd," Unohana continued, motioning behind her.

"Yes, I was actually."

"Well this little group that's about to demonstrate their power has been the subject of quite a bit of gossip, you included. Everyone is anxious to find out if you're really as powerful as people have been saying. And, I think you've personally acquired a bit of a fan club," she said. Hitsugaya nervously eyed a group of giggling female shinigami who appeared to be around his age. One of them winked at him and he drew back, blushing slightly. Matsumoto chuckled but was quickly silenced by a threatening look.

A man of about 30 waited anxiously at the back of the crowd. He had large blue eyes and slightly wavy black hair. He rubbed his hands together in an attempt to quell his nerves, but it did not do much good.

When everyone finally settled down the demonstration began, though it felt more like a cross between a test and a performance to those participating. First they were asked to perform a series of complicated demon magic spells. For a short time the audience would clap after each spell, until Hitsugaya's spirit force made it clear that this was not wanted (and nearly caused several lower seated officers to lose consciousness).

_Damn, I can't see her!_ the man in the back thought, and began to work his way through the crowd until he was fairly close to the front.

The group was then asked to perform thee technique that Ram and Ururu had used on Kitsune. Ururu and Ram went first since they had already done it. Both produced smaller blasts than they had in the fight (because they did not have Yourichi or Matsumoto to help them) but it was clear that Ururu's blast was more powerful. Matsumoto then tried, but instead of a blast the air around her only fizzled slightly. She walked away blushing and sat back down. Ayumu, who was nervous due to Matsumoto's failure, conferred with Ururu and Ram.

"It's ok, it's not that hard," Ururu said. "All you have to do is feel that something is really wrong, and that you have to fix it. Feel it so hard that it becomes something real, so you can use it."

"Ah, thanks." Though still nervous she stepped forward. She put her arm out as though to perform a demon magic spell, and summoned a blast much larger than Ram's or Ururu's.

The man in the audience watched her intently. He was breathing heavily, but had a content smile on his face and almost looked as though holding back tears.

Hitsugaya stepped forward, but his attempt had the same effect as Matsumoto's. He cleared his throat and awkwardly sat back down.

Hitsugaya and Ayumu were then asked to demonstrate their Bankai. Hitsugaya's Bankai rendered quite a reaction from the crowd, but the researchers seemed more interested in the fact that the two seemed to have Bankai with the same exact function. The man in the audience gasped slightly when he saw Ayumu's Bankai, especially the comb in her hair. _I see, so you have regained your life…_

…

After the demonstration Hitsugaya and Ayumu stayed around the 10th squad barracks for a while. Ayumu walked around the whole building several times, claiming that it was because she wanted to know more about the squad that she would be part of (but it was obvious that she was just bored). As she turned to walk back inside, a man approached her.

"Ayumu…"

She turned to face him. "Huh? Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes. S_omething about him seems familiar…_

He looked at the ground and brought his hands together. "I guess… after all of this time… well, yes, that does make sense. My name is Masami Kotarou."

"Oh, that's sort of a coincidence, my name is Ma—"

"I know your name! It's not a coincidence! I thought that the second you saw me you would recognize me, and it would be just like old times! But I guess we've grown up since then, and things have changed… it's been such a long time, I didn't expect you to age this much… But then I don't know what I expected… I guess I've aged quite a bit since you last saw me, huh?" he sighed and looked over her shoulder to where Hitsugaya had come outside. "Hitsugaya Toshiro… this is the first time I'm really getting a good look at you. I knew the name sounded familiar, but I didn't place it with the face… how have you been? Have you two been together all of this time? And while I'm asking questions, could you please knock some sense into my sister?"

"Um, if you're asking me to make Ayumu remember something I think that you're talking to the wrong person…" he said, slightly flustered. _Sister? And how does this guy know me?_

"Never mind, I remember now. Oh, I feel so stupid! Sorry, Kotarou, that took me quite a while, didn't it?" She had not accent, but it was obvious that she was doing it on purpose as opposed to the childish tone that she used when she was sick.

He turned back to her and smiled. "Yes, but it's alright now. For a second I was beginning to think that you had completely forgotten me." He turned back to Hitsugaya. "If you don't mind, captain Hitsugaya, we have some catching up to do."

Hitsugaya looked over Kotarou's shoulder, and Ayumu nodded at him. "I don't really see what I have to say in the matter," he said.

Kotarou smiled. "Thanks." He turned to leave, Ayumu in tow. When Kotarou wasn't looking she looked back and shrugged at Hitsugaya.

_She has no clue what she's doing…_ he thought.

…

Kotarou brought Ayumu back to his room and made them some tea.

"So, what's happened since I last saw you?" Ayumu said. This man was obviously not her brother, but she had a feeling that she knew what was going on. He was the brother of the girl who died 500 years ago, the one with the same name and eye color as her. Since they were related her spirit force was probably similar to that girl's as well. He had been looking for his sister and found her by accident. But, for the moment, she had to play the role of his sister. Because he knew something about Hitsugaya that Hitsugaya didn't know himself.

Kotarou sighed. "I guess I can't say that things have been bad. After you died I looked for you two for a while. Eventually I got married and had to take care of my wife and children. I died when I was 30. In soul society I looked for you two again for almost 150 years, but I barely had enough spirit power to sense other people's spirit force, so nothing really happened to me for a long time. I got hungry only about once a month, and that wasn't nearly enough spirit force to age. Eventually I settled down, but never missed an opportunity to look for either of you. Then, only about 10 years ago, I suddenly felt your spirit force. It was very faint, but that was enough. I spent almost three years building up my spirit force to become a shinigami, because I'd have more access and a better chance of finding you. It was sort of awkward in the academy with people so much younger than me, but it was alright. I pushed my very hardest and graduated in five years. So you see, I've really only been a shinigami for two years. I've been looking ever since. I've felt your spirit force a lot lately, but I wasn't able to track it. When I heard your name come up I just had to check if it was you."

"But I don't understand. Why was that the first time that you were able to sense my spirit force?" She asked this partly to make it seem like she had been around for the 500 years since that girl had died, and partly because she was curious. After all, she was in America 10 years ago, why then of all times had he been able to sense her then? But then she remembered, 10 years ago was when she had first met Emma. And Kitsune.

"I don't know. I always had that tiny little sense of you two, now I know that it was your spirit force. When Kagemi died that sense of her never disappeared, but it slowly changed until I couldn't even tell that it was her anymore. But for some reason, the instant that you died it was like you had completely vanished. 10 years ago it was ever so slight, but then faded out. Then, recently, I was suddenly aware of you."

Ayumu sighed and looked down at her tea. "You keep talking about my death…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it upsetting you? I guess I'm just rambling-"

"No, no, it's just… well, it was so fast and so long ago. I barely remember it."

"Ah, I understand. Well I guess I can't tell you the whole thing either. I wasn't able to see whatever it was that attacked you, and I don't know Hitsugaya's side of the story, but… god, this is going to be hard… here's what I knew. Mother took us out to play in the forest that day, like she did most days that time of year. Kagemi wandered off a bit, and mother called her to come back…

The story began to unfold before her, more like a memory than a retelling. _A young girl of about six had wandered off slightly. She wore a purple kimono with a falling leaf pattern. Her hair was short and wavy, and her eyes were large and blue (though they might be purple in the right light). Her sister and brother played behind her. Her sister was about four and wore a similar purple kimono with a white flower pattern. Her large eyes had purple irises. In her longer hair she wore the comb that her mother had given her that afternoon. The shadows lengthened as the sun prepared to set._

"_Kagemi!" a woman in a dark kimono with a green dragonfly pattern called. "Don't go too far now!" The girl turned around and began to trot back. Suddenly the trees and bushes and trees around her began to whither and die. A red smoke-like creature loomed above her._

"_Kagemi, look out!" the younger girl shrieked. The older girl turned, but clearly could not see the red smoke. Still, sensing the ominous presence around her she began to run, but could not continue as the fox fire enveloped her. It swirled around her as she shrieked and in an instant her body fell, dead, as her soul was dragged upwards and shot off to the north. "Kagemi!" the younger girl screamed and ran in the direction that her sister's soul had been dragged, stopping just short of the dead patch where the creature had first attacked. The mother fell in shock to her knees, the brother had flattened himself to the ground the second that the trees had begun to die. The sun was now about halfway covered by the horizon line._

_The plants around the younger girl began to die as well. Another of the creatures hung in the air above her. She looked up at it with shock and terror in her eyes, but suddenly it turned to determination. "I won't die. No matter what you do, I won't die. Come and get me!" with that she leapt to her feet and ran as fast as she possibly could. The fox fire chased her, leaving a trail of dead, withered plants in its wake. She turned to face it as though to fight, but by then it had caught up to her. It did not decrease its speed. It simply went straight through her, burning a hole right through her midriff to the other side. Blood splattered out in front and behind her. She turned to face it again. She began to release a large amount of spirit force. Vibrant red feathers snaked their way up around her, and Chitose's full materialized form flew out towards the red smoke. The girl stood, watching and concentrating intently while still releasing spirit force. Blood soaked the fabric of her kimono and pooled on the ground below her. The phoenix lunged, and the fox fire dispersed under the bite and spirit pressure. Chitose then turned to face the younger girl._

'_If you promise not to forget me, I promise that you will not disappear…' the voice echoed, and the image of the phoenix faded… The young girl fell, first to her knees and then to the ground. The comb slipped out of her hair and fell on the ground beside her. She blinked at it with unfocused eyes for a moment, and then reached out for it. Holding it in her hand she crawled within a few paces of her mother, and held out her arm as though in offering. In a terrified shock, it was all that the mother could do to reach out a trembling hand and accept it. _

"_A-Ayumu…" Clenching the comb tightly to her tears spilled down her cheeks and she let out a scream of anguish as her younger daughter fell…_

…he must've heard the screams because that's about when Hitsugaya showed up— are you alright?"

Ayumu had set her tea down and now had her hand over her face. She was shaking. "I remember all of this… why?"

"I thought that it might bring something back, I'm sorry if I've hurt you in any way-"

"No! You don't understand! I have no right to remember someone else's death!" she said, looking up so suddenly that the tears on her face flew into the air. Kotarou was taken aback. "Yes, my name is Masami Ayumu. Yes, this is really what I look like. But I was born in 1993! I don't even know if that's called something else in Japan, because up until a little while ago I lived in America! I'm not your sister and I have no reason to remember these things! I'm not even dead!" she fell sobbing to the floor.

Kotarou went over to comfort her, but was obviously lost in thought. "I'm not sure whether or not I believe you. If you are my sister I don't understand why you would lie and say that you're not. If you're not my sister then I don't understand why you would lie and say you are."

"I'm sorry! I'm not going to say how, but captain Hitsugaya lost most of his memories from before he came to soul society. I thought that if you knew about him… I'm sorry I tricked you, I really am!"

Kotarou sighed, and looked away for a moment.

…

"I'm sorry that I freaked out on him, but it was kind of a freak-outish thing. You know?" Ayumu was now lying on the couch inside the 10th squad administrative office. Hitsugaya sat at his desk, unusually not surrounded by paperwork. Ayumu had told him everything that had happened almost word-for-word. She got up and paced around the room. "I just don't understand it. I mean, was I channeling her memories through him or something?"

_(("That's it. I don't know how long I've been in here, but I'm certainly not staying as long as you'd like me to!" Kitsune reached out and etched five long scratches with her fingernails in a tan wall over a small imprint that seemed to have been dug out by a sword.))_

"I don't know, we'll look it up in the library. In the meantime though, I think you should drop it. You're just stressing yourself out, and you're starting to look pale."

"Really?"

"Yeah… really pale actually. Are you feeling alright?"

"Y-yeah… on second thought maybe I should lie down…" suddenly her spirit force spiked strangely and she fell to the floor unconscious…

_(("What do you know, a wall that bleeds!"))_

_To be continued…_


	25. A different type of nostolgic

A/N- I have decided to discount any information that I may or may not get about Hitsugaya's past from the Diamond Dust Rebellion. Why? Because information from Memories of Nobody can be disproved, and that tells me that they are not facts from the actual Bleach series. Plus, I can already tell that it's going to mess me up.

X

The last time he had seen purple eyes like that out of focus, they had already been dead. But that was not a very good thing for Hitsugaya to think about as he tried to calm himself down. Several hours had passed, and it was dark as Ayumu lay on the floor of Kotarou's room. He turned out to be 12th seat in the 4th squad, so he was now trying to heal her. He had been trying ever since they got to his room, but she still had not awakened. He had taken a break a short time ago to check Ayumu's records, and come to the conclusion that what she was experiencing now was some sort of aftershock from the poison Kitsune had given her. Hitsugaya squeezed his hands together tighter as his thoughts wandered back to things that certainly wouldn't cheer him up. He remembered those out-of-focus eyes as Ayumu nonchalantly asked Ichigo when in the fight your vision started to blur in that childish tone, surely he should've noticed something then-

"You know," Kotarou said suddenly, "it's shameful to admit, but when my sister was still alive I used to love her hair. I don't know why. When mother gave her that comb, I thought it looked so beautiful on her." Hitsugaya was slightly surprised by his sudden speech, but did not say anything. "That was the same day she died," Kotarou said, looking back down at Ayumu. "At that moment, through the shock of it, my world became a numb, twisted type of reality. Through it all, the only thought that I was able to pull out was how sad I was that that comb had slipped out of my sister's hair." He paused. "I'm not sure I believe her."

"Hm? About what?" asked Hitsugaya.

"That she's not my sister. I don't know why. The things she told me make sense… I guess, they just look so much alike, those two. They even have the same personality. And her name, and seeing her with you… it just makes it seem so impossible for her to be anyone else." He looked down, and so did Hitsugaya. There was a long pause.

"Poison, huh?" Hitsugaya got up and left the room without another word.

…

By the time he rounded up Ram it was almost sunrise. He then dragged him to the Urahara shop, woke Yun (who had been staying there) and dragged them both into a back room (Yun still wearing the yellow-and-white striped pajamas that she had borrowed from Ururu).

"Alright, what do you two know about demon poisons?" He asked as soon as Yun was awake enough to open her eyes fully.

"They're really weird. I'm serious, one time this little girl demon poisoned me for no good reason, and I turned purple for like a week," Ram said without hesitating.

"Why?" asked Yun. Hitsugaya explained what happened to Ayumu. Yun thought about this for a moment. "Huh. Well, I guess you could make a poison that does something like that, but it would be really hard. Like, it can't think to stall to wait for another attack, so she must've put in some type of trigger."

"Would the fact that she was stressed have changed anything?" asked Hitsugaya, eager that they might be on to something.

"Yeah, it might be something like that," Yun replied. Hitsugaya looked at Ram for conformation.

"What are you lookin' at me for?"

…

Once Hitsugaya got back to Kotarou's room the sun was already up. Much to his relief, so was Ayumu. After awkwardly expressing how glad he was that she was alright, he began to question her about why her reaction to the poison the second time was worse than when she had first received it. She spent almost a half hour convincing him that it was only because her guard was down, and that if she had known to try and fight it she could have done so easily. She probably would have been able to do it much quicker if she had believed it herself. She then somehow convinced him to let her go back home, since her family would probably notice that her personality had drastically changed.

…

As the tension from Ayumu's collapse dissolved it occurred to Hitsugaya that he had not slept at all that night. Taking advantage of the fact that Matsumoto was in the living world he took her usual spot sleeping on the couch for a few hours. When he awoke he immediately felt guilty that he had left Ayumu to her own devices when she might still not be at her best, and decided to check back on her in the living world.

"Ayumu!" he called, tapping on her window.

"Hitsugaya, why are you here?" she said, walking over and opening the window.

"I came to check on you," he said without going in.

"Oh, well I'm ok—" suddenly a telltale spirit force spiked around them. "Although it looks like it's a good thing you showed up anyway." She grabbed a green pill off of her night table, swallowed it, and followed Hitsugaya out of her body and onto a nearby building.

"e-Again? I need a vacation! You hear me? You'd better put me in some beautiful celebrity next!-e" her body called after her.

O

"Hello! Isn't anyone going to come try and fight me?" a female demon walked lazily down the street, casually destroying a mailbox with a knife on a string as she passed it. She wore something black and gold that seemed like a cross between armor, a leotard, and a corset. Her shiny black hair that fell to the floor was tied back in a ponytail with a choppy layer over it and similar bangs. "Come on, this is boring!" she said, leisurely destroying a traffic light.

"Ah, sorry to keep you waiting," Hitsugaya said as he and Ayumu appeared down the street from the demon.

"Well what do you know, this town really does have a lot of shinigami! I only ever expected to find maybe one lower seated officer, but never a captain. And from your spirit force I can tell that you're probably captain-class as well. Oh, this is going to be fun!"

"Then I think you probably have a different definition of 'fun' than most people," said Ayumu. As though they had planned it, both she and Hitsugaya unsheathed their swords at the same time.

"What excellent spirit force! It's almost hard to believe that you're ordinary shinigami," she said with a smug look.

"No, we're not," said Hitsugaya. Suddenly Ayumu charged forward and slashed at the demon. It jumped to dodge, and Chitose grazed the ground leaving a large crater in its wake. Ayumu turned to look up at the demon, but before she could move any further it was gone. Suddenly it stood directly in front of her, one hand draped over her shoulder, the other resting on Chitose's hilt.

"You know girl, that's a pretty sword. Seems like it has a good power too. Careful now, or someone's going to steal it!" she jumped to avoid another slash and landed on the traffic light opposite the one that she had destroyed.

"This sword is part of my soul. It's not so easy to steal," Ayumu said and then jumped after her, slashing again when she landed on the traffic light.

"I wouldn't let my guard down just because of that!" she jumped to the ground. Ayumu followed, making a stab at her that missed by a hair. Ayumu stepped forward and turned the motion into another slash, which the demon ducked under.

Suddenly the ground beneath them seemed to explode. Both the demon and Ayumu were tossed into the air. Out of the dust cloud came something that seemed like a moving metal string. The tip was pointed, but otherwise the whole thing was exactly the same. It was about the thickness of a typical pen. Away from the dust cloud more of it could be seen weaving in and out of the concrete like a sea monster might weave in and out of the water or a needle and thread might weave in and out of fabric. The pointed end touched the demon's feet and the rest curled in circles around it, then pushed her upwards like a spring.

"Sorry, looks like I'm infringing on someone else's territory. If you don't die girl, I'll see you again!" with that she jumped away. The metal thread withdrew, and continued to recede along its path, jumping in and out of the concrete and leaving a line of holes in its wake. It pulled back all to its origin, in a woman's fist. She was tall and thin, with curly red hair. She wore Black armor which was tight to her body, breaking into several sections on her midriff, arms and legs to allow her to move freely. At her right hip, as though clipped into a belt, was a cracked vice-captain badge with the number seven in place of a kanji. Her eyes, which once had green irises, were now completely white. This did not stop Ayumu from recognizing her features.

"A-Anna…"

The woman bent over as though to begin running. From her back protruded three katanas, linked with chain. She raced forward to attack.


	26. Another past

A/N-I'M MAD!!!! Well, as I said in my profile, I won't use any information that conflicts with the story I'm writing. So I guess I shouldn't be mad.

X

Suddenly the ground beneath them seemed to explode. Both the demon and Ayumu were tossed into the air. Out of the dust cloud came something that seemed like a moving metal string. The tip was pointed, but otherwise the whole thing was exactly the same. It was about the thickness of a typical pen. Away from the dust cloud more of it could be seen weaving in and out of the concrete like a sea monster might weave in and out of the water or a needle and thread might weave in and out of fabric. The pointed end touched the demon's feet and the rest curled in circles around it, then pushed her upwards like a spring.

"Sorry, looks like I'm infringing on someone else's territory. If you don't die girl, I'll see you again!" with that she jumped away. The metal thread withdrew, and continued to recede along its path, jumping in and out of the concrete and leaving a line of holes in its wake. It pulled back all to its origin, in a woman's fist. She was tall and thin, with curly red hair. She wore Black armor which was tight to her body, breaking into several sections on her midriff, arms and legs to allow her to move freely. At her right hip, as though clipped into a belt, was a cracked vice-captain badge with the number seven in place of a kanji. Her eyes, which once had green irises, were now completely white. This did not stop Ayumu from recognizing her features.

"A-Anna…"

The woman bent over as though to begin running. From her back protruded three katanas, linked with chain. She raced forward to attack.

Ayumu, looking thoroughly shocked, jumped over her and landed several feet behind her. The woman straightened up, turned to look at her, then suddenly attacked again.

Hitsugaya considered helping Ayumu, but it seemed that she knew this woman. If that was the case, it was probably a bad idea to interfere. Ayumu confirmed this by screaming something at her in English that he could not understand.

"e-Why are you doing this?-e" she continued. She sidestepped the extending tip again, and then jumped over it as it turned and attacked her from behind. As the sword withdrew she watched the woman. "e-You always seemed distant. Now I think I understand why. How long… have you been possessed? Did I ever know a time when you weren't?-e" the steel thread, now exposed to be the tip of a short blade, extended into the ground. As though she knew the way it moved, she jumped up onto a telephone pole just before it exploded out of the ground where she had been standing.

_e-_

_That woman… was always cold to me._

"_Tag!" Ayumu said, tapping her friend lightly on the back and flash stepping away. She wore the outfit that she had before she became a shinigami, a blue tank-top and pants that drew in just above her ankles._

"_Again? Wasn't I just it… like… now ago?" her friend replied panting. "Ugh, fine, abuse my ridiculously out of shape self," she said, and pulled back. Suddenly she shot lightning off to her right and flash stepped away. "TAG! HA!" She said, catching Ayumu by the shoulder. She wore a sleeveless black dress with white trim which came down to around her knees and white armor on her shoulders and hips (that did not seem to serve any particular purpose). The armor on her left shoulder had the number seven on it. Fastened into the belt that kept the armor around her hips on was a small knife. She had blue eyes with large pupils and a high hairline, her blonde bangs hanging down on either side of her face. Both girls were about 13._

"_God, you really are out of shape."_

"_Well just flash stepping around is no big deal, but you're actually like making me run places. Like, with my feet. Running with your feet is not a required skill."_

"_How else do you suggest we run?"_

"_With… super awesome powerfulness!"_

_A woman cleared her throat and stepped up from the chair where she had been sitting. It was Anna. Her eyes were still green, the three swords that came from her back nowhere to be seen._

"_Huh? What is it?"_

"_Forgive me if I seem rude, but I can't really see how this is helping," she said, crossing her arms. "It seems that she would benefit more from being attacked with an actual soul slayer, since it's the only thing she's missing."_

"_Well, that makes sense, but we know that Cheshire doesn't work on her."_

"_Perhaps I can be of assistance then."_

"_Listen, I know it seems like we're just fooling around, but this really is helping—" Ayumu broke in, but was cut off._

"_Stitch, Seamstress!" Anna said, pulling something that looked like a small fencing sword from the swatch of fabric that secured it to one of the armor sections on her lower back. It quickly transformed, becoming shorter, more sturdy, and sharper. The tip began to extend out toward Ayumu, but before it got even a foot her friend flash stepped in front of it._

"_I think that's enough for today."_

_But… it never really seemed like her doing it._

"_Why do you think she hates you so much?" the blonde girl asked. They were inside now, in a comfortably furnished office._

"_I don't think she does. I don't know why she's like that to me. It just seems like… she's being cold to me, but she doesn't mean it even if she knows what she's doing."_

"_How do you figure?"_

"_I don't know. I just do."_

_-e_

Ayumu jumped over Anna and swung at the swords stuck in her back. They did not shatter on contact with her blade, however. A large crack formed in the blade that she had struck, but it did not break. Startled, Ayumu stepped back.

"e-All this time you were with Emma, she had no clue…?-e" Ayumu wondered out loud. Anna's lips moved as though she was speaking, but no sound came out. "e-But,-e" she continued, "e-none of this was really you, was it?-e"

Anna grabbed Ayumu by the front of her shirt and pushed her up against a building. With a voice much softer than it should've been with the effort that she was putting into it, Anna said "e-I never wanted to betray Emma or you. Things just turned out this way.-e"

Ayumu sighed. "e-I know,-e" she said, and in one fluid motion unsheathed Chitose and ran Anna through. She barely moved as she pulled out her gourd and sucked Anna in. strangely, her sword only went into the gourd after she had completely been sucked in. She waited silently for a few seconds. Suddenly a crow appeared above Ayumu and flew away. _A crow… the hellbird?_ She thought, for the first time remembering the demon that they had fought before Kitsune. She secured the gourd back to the end of Chitose's hilt.

"Are you alright?" Hitsugaya asked, emerging from the shadow of a building where he had been waiting.

Ayumu took a while to respond. "Yeah." That seemed to be all she had to say, and Hitsugaya opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off. "But Hitsugaya."

"What?"

"We have to go back to that place."

"What place?"

"Where those girls lived."

Hitsugaya knew exactly what place she was talking about now. "Why?"

"Since I met Kotarou, no, before that, maybe even since we fought Kitsune— I've had this feeling. Like, I know that I had my whole life, but that doesn't really mean that that was how I existed. Like I was someone else. I didn't even notice it until just now seeing Anna broke it. We need to go back there."

Hitsugaya thought about what she said for a moment. "Fine. We'll go tomorrow."


	27. Two houses and the space between

A/N-CHA! Wow, you're going to hate me for the end of this chapter. A lot. But fortunately I should update again soon. Oh, and can someone other than TotallyObsessive review? I mean, TotallyObsessive can review too; it's just that she's the only one who reviewed four chapters in a row…

X

"Ichigo? You can drive?"

"I have my permit."

"So don't you need an adult in the car?"

"Toshiro's like 100, right?"

"That's captain Hitsugaya to you. And I'm over 500… not going to get into it."

"Whatever," said Ichigo, climbing into the driver's seat of a black car. He was wearing a shirt made to look like a basketball jersey but out of different material and jeans. Ayumu and Hitsugaya climbed into the back seat (Ayumu out of habit and Hitsugaya because he had only been in a car once and wasn't sure if there were assigned seats). Hitsugaya had figured that it would be easier to just flash-step there themselves there, but Ayumu had convinced him that coming up with an excuse would be easier if they didn't have to dance around the details. Hitsugaya was wearing a dark green shirt and white pants, Ayumu a purple dress.

About a half hour into the car ride Ichigo attempted to make conversation. "Um, so how come Ayumu counts as a real shinigami but I don't?"

"Ayumu becoming a shinigami was a conscious effort of soul society. You gaining shinigami powers was essentially an accident, other than the efforts of Urahara Kisuke who is not at this point considered part of soul society."

"…oh." With this the conversation came to a screeching halt. Its fatal flaw was that, preoccupied with driving for over a half hour for the first time in his life, Ichigo had failed to notice how tense Hitsugaya was. Ayumu had noticed, and watched him with a worried expression. This was the first time Hitsugaya had been back there since the fight with Kitsune. Ayumu realized that the fight had been some sort of turning point for Hitsugaya, and neither of them knew what he might find there.

…

Ichigo was slightly surprised by the unusual spirit force that the land seemed to emit when he stepped out of the car, but Hitsugaya and Ayumu seemed used to it so he did not let on. Hitsugaya and Ayumu both immediately swallowed soul candy and shot out of their respective gegai or body. Ichigo felt slightly left out because he had left Kon at home (but, not wanting to leave his body unconscious in such a strange place, did not use his substitute shinigami badge to get out of his body).

"I'll be back later," Hitsugaya said, walking back toward the forest.

"What's with him?" Ichigo asked when he was gone.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably better that we just leave him alone," Ayumu replied, clenching her fist. She walked toward the house.

O

Hitsugaya was walking completely following instinct. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going, but he knew that he had a long way to go. The more he walked, the clearer the path that he was taking became in his mind. Eventually he risked a flash step to a place in the forest farther along on his path. Slightly amazed, he realized that he was still on track. He continued flash stepping until instinct told him that he was fairly close to his destination. Of course, he was not just following the hand of fate. He knew that he must have traveled this path many times. He prepared himself for something, what exactly that was he was not quite sure. Slowly he stepped out of the woods. A house. He had no reaction, just a vague sense of familiarity. Suddenly, with a slight jolt, he realized that this must have been where he had lived for the first and only four years of his life. He reached out and steadied himself against a nearby tree as a flood of memories from this house came back to him.

"_They seem really close," a young Hitsugaya said. He wore a kimono with a white top and green pants, and for some reason his hair was black. He was talking to a boy of about nine. The boy wore a similar kimono with blue bottoms, and had large blue eyes and slightly wavy hair. It was Kotarou._

"_Yeah, they are. I don't know why Kagemi's so protective of her, I guess they just have a good bond," Kotarou replied. He was not humoring Hitsugaya like most nine-year-olds would when talking to a four-year-old, but rather having a genuine conversation. They were referring to Kotarou's sisters, Kagemi and Ayumu._

"_That's unusual though, right? Usually siblings fight."_

"_Yeah. I like what we have here though. I think that it's better to be strange and have what you love."_

_Up until a second ago… I had really forgotten this place?_ He sighed and walked toward the house. Looking around, he sat down on the platform that surrounded the house. _It's not fair…_ Hitsugaya tried to block out the thought, but could not. _I never got a chance…why couldn't I have been alive for just a little longer?_ He leaned his chin on his knuckles and closed his eyes. Suddenly a memory that he would almost have rather left forgotten crashed its way into his thoughts.

_Young, black-haired Hitsugaya was sitting in the same place that current Hitsugaya now was, his shoes left farther down by the door. It was sunset. An ear-shattering shriek echoed across the forest._

"_K-Kagemi?" Hitsugaya choked, shocked by the sudden screech. His face set, and without even pausing to get his shoes he got up and charged into the forest. The spirit force that guided him to her (or at least seemed to surround her) seemed more disturbing with every footfall. Kagemi's spirit force suddenly began to recede, getting farther and farther away impossibly quickly. Suddenly Ayumu's spirit force began to grow. This troubled him, and he sped up slightly. After a few seconds it shrunk, then after one final huge burst disappeared completely. _

_Suddenly he ripped out of the trees into an area where all of the vegetation was dead. The first thing that he saw was Ayumu's mother slightly in front of him. In her hands she clutched Ayumu's comb close to her and she cried out, thick streams of tears dripping off her face. As he looked out at the rest of the clearing the shock of it crashed down on him: Kotarou was curled up on the ground shaking. Kagemi and Ayumu both lay on the ground, Ayumu in a growing puddle of blood. This was what disturbed him the most. Not only that two of his friends were dead, but specifically Ayumu… _she, _his twisted mind thought, _is not the type of person who should die. _The mere thought that Ayumu was capable of dying was shocking enough. It had always seemed to him that she would not die. Even in a situation where everything said that she should, it had seemed to Hitsugaya that she would simply refuse to die and come back stronger than ever. But now—_

"_T-Toshiro!" Kotarou had somehow broken out of his shock enough to speak. "R-run…" Hitsugaya looked at him, surprised that sound was even possible in a situation like this. "Run! I-it'll kill you…" The plants behind Hitsugaya began to dry out, whither and die. "Run!" The world seemed to come slamming down to this one moment where reality was ripped apart. Suddenly, in this strange reflected moment, his resolve was very clear._

"_You're the thing that killed Kagemi and Ayumu?" Hitsugaya said in a soft and incredibly calm voice, and clenched his small fist. He turned to look up at the red smoke-like creature looming above him. "You know, I'm going to avenge them. So sorry, you're not going to kill me," he said in the same strange, level tone. The fox fire reared up and crashed down on the area where he had just been standing like a wave. Hitsugaya had rolled out of the way, but as he was getting his balance back it shot toward him again. This time it made contact. Like it had with Ayumu it did not pause. Searing pain worse than any other he had felt shot through him as the creature burned a hole just above his heart. He let out a gasping scream and sunk to his knees, releasing a large amount of spirit force. Around him, Hyourinmaru began to materialize. His white bat like wings outstretched, he raced toward the creature. The combination of his wound and the unusual amount of spirit force that he was producing overwhelmed him, and he was left gasping for breath as Hyourinmaru fended off the creature. Hitsugaya's hair faded to grey, then white. Hyourinmaru came to stand in front of him, having destroyed the fox fire. "Y-you saved me…" he said in a choked whisper, looking up at the dragon._

"_Not quite, I'm afraid." With that the dragon began to vanish. With a dinging sound Hitsugaya's chain of fate gave way and his body fell to the ground without him, leaving only half of the severed link attached to the chain hanging from his chest. Slowly, he looked down at the dead body on the ground, formerly his. _I'm… dead?_ He tested out the thought. It felt strange._

"_Correct!" said a high-pitched feminine voice with a crazed unstable quality to it. It made some sort of sound like a cross between a cackle and a giggle, and a cruelly familiar hollow-like creature stepped into view. "What do you know, looks like you were wrong, I killed you after all! But you know, that scared expression is excellent… I think I'll keep you around for a bit!" she began laughing again, and Hitsugaya turned to run…_

Hitsugaya's eyes fluttered open. He was in a sweat. Breathing shakily he got up and began to pace. "It's ok," he said to himself, and repeated it a few times. "It's ok, that was…" he slowed down and stopped pacing "…that was 500 years ago." Compared to what had happened to him in the past month or so, 500 years seemed like an eternity. Could he have really have been alive for that long? _No,_ he realized, _of course not. _He had been dead for that long. He had only become alive by winning his life back from Kitsune. _So… am I alive now?_ He noticed something by the door of the house and walked up to look at it. It was a tiny pair of sandals. _They left my shoes… _Suddenly he felt a strong and familiar spirit force. He had no time to contemplate this now.

O

_What is she doing? And where the hell is Toshiro already?_ Wondered Ichigo. Ayumu was sitting just outside the door to the old Masami household, as she had been ever since Hitsugaya left. Really he hadn't been gone that long, but with absolutely nothing to do and lunchtime approaching it seemed to Ichigo that he was taking forever.

"Hey! Ayumu! Are you ever going to move?"

She looked at him as though just remembering that he was there. "Oh, y-yeah…" she said and stood up. Suddenly a strong spirit force spiked out from behind her. Despite only having felt it once, she recognized it instantly. She turned her head and then the rest of her body slowly to face its source. It was a girl of about six. She wore a one-piece top and pants which, other than its short sleeves, seemed to have been constructed in a traditional manner. It was purple with a pattern of golden falling leaves. Her hair was wavy, and was cut straight across her shoulders. She had large blue eyes, but they had a purple gleam to them. It was Kagemi. There was a long tense moment.

"Kurosaki." Ichigo had been too involved in the moment to notice the captain's approach, but Hitsugaya now stood just in front of him. "Take my gegai and Ayumu's body and go home. Make sure Ayumu's body gets to her house."

"But-!"

"Kurosaki. That's an order."

Ichigo blinked at him for a moment. Because of his childish form Ichigo had always been friendly with Hitsugaya even when the captain acted cold. But now, in this situation at least, it was obvious that he wielded absolute authority. "Fine."


	28. Flower and falling leaves

A/N-CHA! Thank you for the 67 reviews and 5k hits!

X

"We're going!" Ichigo announced to the gegai and body currently inhabited by 'soul candy' as though nothing important was happening.

"But I want to see what happens—" Hitsugaya's gegai began to say before being shoved into the car. Ichigo tried to act calm, but as soon as everyone was in the car he slammed his foot down and sped away, leaving a huge dust cloud in his wake. He did not slow down at all for some time, only once he reached a stop sign where two roads crossed just before a highway. He stopped so suddenly that the back of the car lifted slightly off of the ground. For a while he just looked down at the steering wheel, not bothering to notice that no other cars stopped him from moving forward and breathing heavily as though he had just run the distance. He gripped the wheel so tightly that his knuckles pressed white against it.

"Bit of an aggressive driver, are ya?" asked Ayumu's body.

Ichigo sat panting and looking down for another long moment. "_Damn…_" he hissed to himself.

There was another pause. "Are we really going to leave them up there? It seemed intense," said Hitsugaya's gegai.

"This," Ichigo said after a moment, "this I think is one of those things that they have to do on their own." He turned in his seat to look the direction that they had just come. _You guys… both of you had better not die! _he thought, turning back to the road. With that he slammed the pedal down again and they took off.

O

For what seemed like forever, there was silence. Hitsugaya did not speak, Ayumu did not speak. Kagemi did not speak. She had a strange expression on her face. At first it seemed to just be the same wistfulness that she had shown the first time that they saw her, but as they stared at each-other with the tension mounting it became clear that there was also something else present. There was pity, but also a strange mixture of reluctance and determination. Whatever she had come here to do, she was hesitating.

Ayumu knew exactly what was happening. This girl had mistaken her for her sister, the same way that Kotarou had. She wanted to scream at her. She wanted to tell her that she had the wrong girl and she should just go away and take her disturbing spirit force with her. But she could not. She had told herself that with Kotarou it had just been for Hitsugaya's sake, that she had only waited so long to tell him who she was so that she could hear all that he had to say. But now she could see clearly that she had been lying to herself. Somehow, she could not bring herself to say it. There was something about this moment, somehow, that the thought of not being that girl that they thought she was disturbed her. But that raised the question: what was her sister doing here, in that strange outfit, with that strange look on her face? It occurred to her that Kagemi might be wondering the same thing. Or perhaps she knew. There was something else slowly creeping into her expression: betrayal.

Kagemi seemed to suddenly have made up her mind. She leapt forward towards Ayumu and angled as though to punch her. Ayumu knew that this was the point where she was supposed to whip out Chitose and cut the girl, but somehow she couldn't. She moved to block the blow with her forearm. Kagemi pulled back, but as her fist came down she hesitated for a moment. The blow softened and glanced off of Ayumu's arm. She changed her position in midair and kicked at the same spot. The blow was slightly harder this time, but still not enough to be painful at all. It just felt like a slightly harder shove. Ayumu grabbed the girl's foot, not hard enough to do any damage, and pushed her back so she landed just slightly in front of the spot where she had appeared.

Kagemi paused and took a breath, then charged again. Ayumu ducked, but Kagemi's foot caught her by the shoulder and sent her flying backward. Both were horizontal now, Kagemi seeming to float above Ayumu. She put her hands onto the ground and flipped back to her feet, aiming a kick at Kagemi as she did so. The halfhearted blow only knocked her sideways. She spun through the air and landed within arm's reach.

Part of Hitsugaya wanted to do something, but he knew that he could not. Once again, this was Ayumu's fight. Of course, he knew that these two girls did not really know each-other. It was just an illusion caused by the fact that Ayumu was so similar to Kagemi's sister. But still, he realized, even though they did not know each-other, there was some sort of familiarity between them. Each was reluctant to hurt the other. They were just going through the motions of a fight, their blows softening the instant before they struck. It made sense for Kagemi, but for Ayumu he was not sure.

Kagemi swept her leg under Ayumu and she jumped over Kagemi to avoid it. Just as Ayumu landed slightly farther away Kagemi swept her leg around again, not anywhere close enough to hit Ayumu. But as she did this, her shadow rippled slightly and sent out a wave where her leg had swept. Ayumu jumped off the ground as it passed under her, somehow knowing that she probably shouldn't touch it. In return she shot back a tiny flicker of the technique that Ram and Ururu had first used. Kagemi easily dodged it and sent a slightly larger ripple back at Ayumu. Ayumu jumped over it again, but to her surprise it did not pass under her as it had last time. This one stopped under her and rose up off of the ground, coming up under her feet and pushing her upward. She pushed off of it and landed in a tree about 6 meters behind Kagemi.

Kagemi turned around, and her shadow began to extend. It spiraled up the tree, and Ayumu shot a fistful of the white translucent power down at it. It withdrew back too its normal length. She turned and moved farther into the forest, jumping from branch to branch. Kagemi leapt after her. Every step or so Ayumu turned back slightly and shot at Kagemi, who weaved in and out of the trees to avoid them. After three or four shots Kagemi's shadow suddenly reared up and crashed down on the bough where Ayumu had just perched. The branch cracked off and in two, and small splinters flew everywhere. Kagemi's shadow returned to normal, and then reared up again. Ayumu jumped and turned in midair, shooting a blast at Kagemi that was about four times the size of the others. It collided with the shadow, which returned to normal. Ayumu then sent a wave of the energy down toward Kagemi and flash stepped farther into the forest. Kagemi followed with a similar technique. They continued that way for almost a minute, each step taking them much farther than an ordinary one, pausing between steps to shoot at each-other.

Ayumu noticed that trees were becoming scarce, and realized that they must have traveled at least the distance of 11 days walk. The soil had now changed to bare rock. Suddenly she reached the edge of a cliff, a huge lake below it. A wood and rope bridge spanned the whole length, sloping down from the edge of the cliff to the flat ground on the other side. Fearing that she could not cross the whole expanse in one step she aimed her next one about halfway down the bridge, preparing to get a clear shot onto the flat rock on the other side. Perhaps to make the bridge sturdier it had not been built out of planks of wood but entire logs split in half. Ayumu landed on one and was about to take her next step when Kagemi's shadow reared up again and crashed down on the cliff side of the bridge.

The shock was too much for the ancient rope and it snapped in several places, the logs separating as they tumbled into the water. Ayumu fell near one and caught it with her foot, angling it so she landed on it. She balanced in the middle of the floating log, waiting for the waves from the other logs falling to stop bobbing it up and down. Far off in the distance she saw a waterfall leading into the lake, and that the lake eventually fed into several much smaller rivers. Kagemi slid down the entire cliff and jumped at the last second. She positioned herself the way a bird might landing on a branch after flying, her legs and arms stretched out in front of her. She dug her heals into the water and for a moment it seemed as though she was going on momentum alone, but within a second her shadow pushed her up off the surface of the water. She turned around, gaining height, and shot part of the shadow suspending her at Ayumu. Ayumu quickly flash stepped to the other side of the lake and shot a large blast at the column of shadow holding Kagemi up.

The column of shadow split into several tentacle-like supports to avoid the blast, and pushed Kagemi higher. She then sunk down in the center of them and they pushed her up like a trampoline, flipping her over to the rock where Ayumu now stood.

Kagemi's shadow extended out toward Ayumu. She jumped sideways to avoid it. It reared up again and crashed down, sending shattered rock flying through the air. Ayumu had flash stepped behind Kagemi and shot a large blast at her. She jumped, and once again splintered rock flew through the air. Kagemi extended her shadow again. This was the first time that Ayumu looked directly at her as she did it. For a moment, her eyes registered the sunset. Though the sun was sinking low and the very bottom dipped just below the horizon, it had seemed at that instant to be much lower than it was. This time, when the shadow extended, it stopped before it reached her.

A black, fluid-looking substance bubbled forth from the shadow, and quickly formed its self into a creature-like shape. Opening its huge glowing white eyes, arms seemed to bubble forth from it and it charged forward. Several, seemingly hundreds more continued to come out of the shadow. Some grew arm-like appendages and charged forward, but most hung back. The shapes were humanoid but did not in any way appear to be human. They left grey trails behind on the ground as they moved, and those that were walking slowly rocked back and forth like chameleons. Though puzzled Ayumu was now certain: these were the same creatures used by the first demon that they had fought. For the first time in the fight she drew Chitose. Without her having to say a word, the blade shattered. The comb twisted into her hair, the tattoo snaked up around her body. Kagemi seemed slightly surprised. Ayumu reached up and grabbed Chitose seemingly out of thin air. With just one slash many of the creatures vanished into wisps of vapor. Ayumu wondered if perhaps Kagemi had not used this technique in the forest because the trees restricted her movement. With a quick slash to a few others she depleted nearly the entire army.

After destroying the last few she flash stepped across the lake, back into the forest without even bothering to worry about the distance. It turned out that she was mistaken, the shadows in the forest made it harder to see Kagemi's attacks. More of the creatures followed her, but these were slightly different. They were more humanoid, with hands, more constant bodies, and smaller eyes. They also moved faster, and when she slashed at a pair that came up to knock her off of her perch they were the only two that disappeared.

Realizing that she needed to get back to a flat area she headed back to the largest clearing she knew of: back to the house. A detached part of her mind noted that it was strange that they were going back to the place that they started. As she moved toward the house she turned and shot a large blast at Kagemi. She had never used the technique in Bankai, and was slightly surprised when it came out as a pure white light instead of the translucent pale white of the other shots.

At their higher speed it only took a few flash steps to get back to the house. The sun was setting now. Kagemi's shadow extended again, but stopped about halfway to Ayumu and rose vertically up from the ground. It began to separate from Kagemi's shadow and form the shape of a woman. She slightly resembled them both and wore a green kimono with a dragonfly pattern. It was Kagemi's, and as far as she (or Ayumu at the moment) knew, Ayumu's mother. There was just something so profoundly wrong about that to Ayumu that the feeling seemed almost like a solid thing.

Power suddenly exploded from her, white energy completely surrounded her. Even brighter energy seemed to form huge wings coming from her back as the power spiraled around her. Kagemi looked at her with some sort of sadness in her eyes and seemed to make up her mind. The image of her mother vanished and Kagemi raced forward. Ayumu moved to counterattack, but once again her blow softened before it struck. Kagemi's blow did not soften. Her outstretched hand struck Ayumu in the midriff and went all the way through, blood splattering out behind her in an almost straight line.

It seemed that the pain did not register with Ayumu. The only expression on her face was that of betrayal. The instant seemed to last forever, droplets of blood flying past in slow motion. Then Ayumu reached out and Chitose settled into her hand. She slashed across Kagemi, pulled off the gourd, and sucked her in. For a moment there was pure, crushing stillness. Then Ayumu's Bankai disappeared and she fell, a completely white figure on a completely white background, red blood splattering out behind her like ink on a page.

_To be continued…_


	29. Puzzle peices that don't quite fit

A/N- wow, sorry this took so long.

X

Hitsugaya was definitely not in a good mood, but that was to be expected. He had not left the hospital for almost the entire two days since Ayumu had been admitted. She was almost healed enough to leave the hospital, but until then Hitsugaya was pacing around an empty waiting room.

"Um, hello?" Ram said, seeming to pop out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Hitsugaya sat down in one of the many chairs in the room and broke out of his staring match with the floor just long enough to reply "Oh, hello."

"So… did you want to shove me up against the wall and ask me a bunch of questions now?" Ram asked. In fact, that was exactly what Hitsugaya wanted to do, but he said nothing. "Well like 'cause usually after something like this happens you hunt me and Yun down and interrogate us so… yeah. She's waiting in that hat guy's shop if you feel like beating some answers out of us, I'm like hopeless so don't ask me anything…" he muttered on his way out.

"…Fine." Hitsugaya got up and followed him out of the room.

…

"So, um, do you have questions…?" Yun said, trying to break the awkward silence that had descended when Hitsugaya entered the room. He sighed.

"Will Ayumu be alright?"

"Do I look like a medic to you?"

"You asked if I had questions."

Yun gave an annoyed sigh. "Well, I read your incident report—"

"See, this is why Yun's the smart one, she like reads stuff," Ram cut in.

Yun cleared her throat. "As I was saying, that demon probably didn't use any type of technique to stop the wound from healing, so she should be fine soon. It probably couldn't even use a technique like that anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well its powers were pretty specific, shadow techniques are almost always used for copying. Chances are that that copy of the woman she made was the first technique she learned, and then learned to simplify it."

Hitsugaya thought about this for a moment. "I see, so that must be how she copied that other demon's powers."

"What?"

"The first demon we ran into used that same power, the one with the creatures that looked like liquid. So this one must've copied it."

"Well, don't assume that, it could be the other way around. But it's probably neither, since it's really hard to come up with a technique to copy another, even with shadows. They could be related… no, because we know that girl's lineage. Probably one of them stole some of those creatures from the other. Or borrowed them to make it look like they could use that power."

"But I saw both of them make some of those things. They came out of the first demon's hands, and Kagemi brought them out of her shadow."

"Hmm, was the first one a high level demon? Like, did they seem really powerful?"

"Well, at the time they did, but now that I think about it they were probably pretty weak."

Yun thought for a moment. "Which did you see make more of them?"

"The first- well, we technically only saw her make one, but there were tons more around her."

"Yes," said Urahara (who had been standing in the shadows unnoticed the whole time), "but if she only showed herself making one than it's possible that she simply hid that one in her spirit body and brought it out at a strategic point to make it seem that it was her power. I also read the report, and the one for the first demon. I've estimated that to create the crowd we saw on the day of the first demon's attack would've taken them about 40 days using their power nonstop, but it would've only taken Kagemi about 25 seconds. So either this demon is so good at possession that they can take control of an army of mindless creatures, or Kagemi was helping it."

"Well there's no way it was the possession thing. Possession is like the hardest move out there, any demon below Kitsune's level would probably die trying to possess a squirrel. And you can't possess a technique—" Yun said, but was cut off by Hitsugaya.

"Wait a second, then what about a vice captain?"

"What?"

"Well, about three days ago Ayumu fought this woman. I couldn't understand them because they were speaking English, but from what I could tell she was a possessed vice captain from America who followed her here."

"Then it sounds like there's some seriously high level demon after you. Seriously, it would've been hard to possess a regular human soul, let alone a vice-captain. What did the possession look like?"

"What?"

"Like, what effects did it have on the person's body?"

"Well, their eyes were completely white. And there were three swords sticking out of her back, they were connected by a chain."

"The white eye thing is typical. The swords… something like that usually reflects on the demon's power. But unless another shinigami did it I can't think of a sword-type demon."

"I don't think shinigami can possess. Well, unless mass hypnosis counts."

"It doesn't."

"Oh. Wait a minute though, if it wasn't possession then that means that Kagemi was somehow in cohorts with that demon?"

"Seems like it," said Urahara. "In any case, we can just ask them after they've been purified. That first demon hasn't been released from Ayumu's gourd yet, has she?"

"No, the hellbird that we fought before Kitsune is the only one so far," Hitsugaya said.

Urahara let out a sigh-like breath and sat down with his legs crossed. "This certainly has become a bit of a mystery, hasn't it?" he said quietly to himself. The other people in the room looked at him to elaborate, but he did not.

…

Figuring that wandering around aimlessly in the living world was better than wandering around aimlessly in the hospital, Hitsugaya decided to pay a visit to Ayumu's body and make sure that her family wasn't getting too suspicious. He tracked down his gegai and headed off to her house.

"Oh, hello Hitsugaya, this is a surprise. Ayumu is locked in her room for some reason, maybe she'll come out when she sees that you're here."

"Oh, thank you," Hitsugaya said, going to Ayumu's room and knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" her body asked from the other side.  
"Um, me," said Hitsugaya, slightly confused why she would bother to ask.

Ayumu's body opened the door a crack and looked at him through one eye. "Oh, good," she said, opening the door, dragging him in, and closing it again. "Her friend keeps calling me. She's being seriously stalkerish. I keep thinking she's gonna show up any minute. Hey, where's your soul candy guy? He's funny. I keep flirting with him and he just blushes," she said, putting a piece of gum in her mouth.

"Oh… um, no one sees you doing that, right?" Hitsugaya asked, completely forgetting the first part of what she said.

"How should I know? He's cool though, he's my boo."

"Um, I see…" suddenly having the impulse to leave. "Well, um, I'll be going now…" he said, opening the door and backing out of it.

…

"Oh, captain Hitsugaya, I've been meaning to speak with you," Unohana greeted him upon returning to the hospital. That technique that she can use is being analyzed, it seems to be some form of compressed healing technique. Because of this, Ayumu can be released now and complete her healing process at home."

"Oh, good!"

"Yes. And also, please notify us if she has another attack from the poison."

"Will she?"

"We don't know, but if she does please tell us."

Hitsugaya looked down for a moment, his fists clenched. "Alright."

…

Hitsugaya was pacing on a rooftop a few buildings away from Ayumu's. It was about 10:00, but because of her injury Ayumu was long since asleep. Sighing, he jumped down onto her fire escape. He opened her window and slipped inside. Only then did he realize that he was sneaking into her room. He crossed to the wall opposite the windows and sat down…

…He was awakened by whispers and a strange spirit force. Something in his gut told him to pretend that he was still asleep, so he did not move. One person talking was Ayumu, the other he did not recognize. Strangely he understood the voice he did not recognize, even though both were speaking English.

e-

"…"

"Well duh! Didn't I say that?"

"…"

"Yes, I did- well anyway, what, did you think I was just going to ignore something like this? I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?"

"…"

The other voice laughed, and Hitsugaya realized that it was a girl about Ayumu's age. "Well it's true! Your soul candy probably thinks I'm a stalker, I called her so much… oh, and, um, there's some guy in here and I think he's waking up…"

"?!"

-e

Ayumu sat bolt upright, and then relaxed. "Oh, captain Hitsugaya. Um, what are you doing in my room?"

"I could ask her the same question," he said, standing up and pointing at the girl standing by Ayumu's bed.

Ayumu sighed. "Ok, I guess it's introduction time. E- Emma, this is captain Toshiro Hitsugaya- man that sounds weird reversed.-e Captain Hitsugaya, this is captain Emma Quasar."


	30. New memories shadow old ones

A/N- I am so sorry this took so long… and I promised I would update soon too…

X

Emma was about the same height as Ayumu. She had blonde hair that was tied in a loose short ponytail and bangs that came down on both sides of her face. She had blue eyes with large pupils. She wore a sleeveless black dress with white trim that came down to her knees. On her shoulders and hips she wore white armor, the number seven on the armor on her left shoulder. Fastened into her belt was a small knife.

"Captain?" Hitsugaya asked.

"e-Um, yes. Nice to meet you,-e" said Emma.

"Same… wait, why can I understand you?"

Emma pointed to something that looked like a Bluetooth headset. "e-It's a translator. Well not exactly, but we can understand each-other.-e" She turned back to Ayumu. "e-Ok, so when I show up tomorrow you have to act really surprised. Can you do that?-e"

"e-Yeah.-e"

"e-You know what? I don't believe you. Show me your surprised face,-e" she said, putting her hands on her hips. Ayumu feigned dramatic shock and fainting. "e-Yeah, maybe you should work on that a little. Ok, I have to go now. Bye!-e" she hugged Ayumu, waved at Hitsugaya, and flash stepped away.

"…What the heck?" Hitsugaya asked a few seconds later. Ayumu just shrugged and lay back down.

…

"So she's just going to pop up any time now?" Hitsugaya asked. It was midday and he had come to visit Ayumu again. They were now sitting on her bed talking.

"Well this time she'll come through the front door in a gegai, but yeah pretty much. And she'll be like 'Boo!' and I'll be like 'Ahhhh!' and we'll hug and go frolic around town."

"That's kind of—"

"Ayumu!" her mother cut Hitsugaya off from the other room.

"…messed up…" he finished, and Ayumu jumped up and left the room.

"Boo!" Emma said as soon as Ayumu entered the living room.

"Ahhhh!" Ayumu shrieked in delight and hugged her. "e-Ok so we need to go frolic. Like now. Mom, can we go frolic?-e"

"e-Sure!-e"

"e-Ok let's frolic.-e"

"Hitsugaya, do you want to come frolic with us?"

"Um, depends what you mean by frolic…"

"Yay!" Ayumu said, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him out the door.

…

A few blocks away Emma put her headset back on.

"Won't people notice that they can understand you?" Hitsugaya asked.

"To humans it just seems like I'm speaking the same language as them."

"…Oh."

"Speaking of do you have a spare of those things? Our inside jokes won't make sense if I'm speaking Japanese…"

"e-Sure, here,-e" Emma said, taking another headset out of her pocket and handing it to Ayumu. She was wearing a pink T-shirt and jeans. "e-Alice already lost like six, we brought this whole box.-e"

"e-That must have been hard to explain to airport security…-e" Ayumu said, putting it on.

"e-What? Oh no, we used the diplomat's gate. We had to get special permission, otherwise I would've been here _last time you almost got killed!!_-e" Emma said, pointing accusingly at Ayumu.

"e-What? Wait… what? I have no clue what you're talking about…-e"

"e-I don't know, you got in a fight or something…-e"

"The 'diplomat's gate' is a section of the senkai gate that is used to access the different versions of soul society that each country has. For decisions pertaining to one country central 46 is the main authority, but for something like an important law or information that might affect other places there's an international conference. I understand there have been a lot of them recently about this whole demon thing…" Hitsugaya clarified.

"e-Ohmygod yes! That's the official reason we're here, apparently the government decided again to 'stabilize' another country. But don't worry, I'll try not to mess up Japan too bad.-e"

"e-Oh wow, thanks. So the whole family's here?-e"

"e-Yeah. Oh, Alice got promoted!-e"

"e-She did?-e"

"e-Yeah! She's my vice captain now.-e"

Ayumu stopped and hesitated for a moment, looking off to the side with narrowed eyes. "e-What happened to Anna?-e"

"e-Oh, she like quit!-e"

"e-Can you even do that?-e"

"e-No, but she did! Why? Did she like hunt you down and attack you or something? I seriously bet she would—-e"

"e-Yeah, she did.-e"

"e-What? I was kidding!-e"

Ayumu sighed and looked up. "e-How much do you know about demons?-e"

"e-Not much, I don't like where this is going.-e"

Ayumu looked back at her. "e-I guess we're in the wrong place then.-e"

…

"e-That is _weird_,-e" Emma said, putting down the report Hitsugaya had filed on Anna's attack. "e-so she's been possessed for… like ever?-e" she asked, looking around. They were in a back room of the Urahara shop, which had now come to serve as their unofficial meeting place. She sighed. "E-Leave it to you to mess things up so badly… but what's all this about you fighting?-e" she asked Ayumu.

"e-Oh! I have some… stuff… to show you. Move it.-e"

"E-Excuse me, that is _not_ a very nice way to talk to a captain,-e" Emma said, standing up and moving regardless. Ayumu opened a trapdoor in the floor below where Emma had been sitting. "e-Huh?-e"

…

"E-Um… wait so how did you fit those huge boulders in through that tiny trapdoor?-e"

"So that's what she meant!" Hitsugaya exclaimed to himself in a whisper. _"'Down'?" said Ayumu._

_About a minute later Ayumu, Renji, Ichigo, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Yourichi, Urahara, Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta were standing at the bottom of an extremely long latter in an extremely large room._

"_Ooh, boulders. I wonder how they got down here?" asked Ayumu._ Hitsugaya had always been somewhat curious about this, but never really cared enough to ask.

"e-Oh!-e" said Ayumu suddenly, and walked over to Ururu (who had followed them down the ladder when she realized that they were there. "e-This girl is related to me!-e" she said, patting Ururu on the head. Ururu smiled a little.

"e-Oh, really?-e"

"e-Yeah, she's my…-e" Ayumu did some mumbling trying to figure out exactly how Ururu was related to her, "e-…relative.-e"

"e-Oh, that's cool. So you're like running around Japan finding your roots now, huh?-e"

"e-You don't know the half of it.-e"

"e-Hey…-e" said Emma, looking around the room, "e-tag!-e" she said, suddenly running up behind Ayumu and hitting her on the shoulder.

"e-Oh, no. First, we have some catching up to do. And if you want to train you're going to have to do it the awesome Japanese way.-e"

"e-But…-e" Emma said, making the cutest puppy-dog face she could muster without laughing.

"e-I can be cuter, my eyes are huge naturally!-e" said Ayumu, imitating Emma's expression.

"e-Oh fine,-e" said Emma, taking a small green pill out of her pocket and swallowing it. Her soul separated from her body.

"e-Oh my god, so this is what it's like to be Emma! I feel so tall!-e" said Emma's body, spinning and running in circles around them.

"e-Hey, isn't that Alice's?-e"

"e-Oh, yeah. Apparently it complained to her that all her friends were downers or something, so she started switching them…-e" Emma said, shrugging. Getting the idea, Hitsugaya also swallowed the 'soul candy' pill and shot out of his gegai (who looked around and sat down next to him). Ayumu did the same.

"Oh, hey Boo!" said Ayumu's body, running over and hugging Hitsugaya's blushing gegai.

Ayumu stood for a moment, and then looked at Emma. "e-Ok. Here I am, standing here in all my shinigami glory for you to admire, and you've got this look like 'oh, I'm gonna kill you.' Why?-e"

"e-I really can't leave you alone for five minutes can I? I train with you for like 10 years and then you come to Japan, and it's like—e" she tried to snap, but it did not make a sound. "e-Oh, now I can't snap…-e"

"e-Yes, I'm just awesome like that. I think. So anyway, I believe I just beat you in a puppy-dog eyes contest, which means we're training the awesome Japanese way.-e"

"e-God, fine.-e"

"e-Yay!-e" Ayumu said, and threw a wooden word at Emma.

Emma stared at it for a moment. "e-Oh, great. What am I supposed to do with this?-e"

"And this is coming from a captain…" Hitsugaya muttered to himself.

"e-You hit me with it!-e" said Ayumu enthusiastically, holding her own wooden sword and taking a stance.

"e-Oh, I get it!-e" Emma said, and then seemed to become serious. She took a stance that might be taken by someone who had never seen a martial arts movie trying to imitate one. "e-I warn you though… I am very good at back flips.-e" Ayumu dropped her sword and fell to the ground laughing hysterically. Emma flash stepped to her side and tapped her on the shoulder with the wooden sword. "e-Did I win?-e" she asked.

"e-N-no fair, using inside jokes is cheating!-e"

Emma posed with one finger up as though about to make a very important point. "e-No it's not, it's stragety!-e"

"e-Do you mean strategy?-e" Ayumu asked, calming down a bit and sitting up.

"e-No! Now get back on the floor, it's a frickin' fatality! Hu hu ahaha!-e" Emma said, stepping on Ayumu's shoulder as though to push her back down. Ayumu began to laugh even harder and fell back down.

…

"How long have you two been friends?" Hitsugaya asked after a long silence. They were back at Ayumu's house, and Emma had gone home. It was abut 8:30. Ayumu was lying on her bed, Hitsugaya leaning against the wall.

"We met when we were four."

"She certainly seemed comfortable in the living world."

"She lives here. Well, in America that is." Ayumu took Hitsugaya's questioning look to mean that she should go on. "Her family is on permanent station in the living world. her grandparents had their gegais specially treated to make them into real bodies, Emma and her father were born in the living world. Her mother married in, but she also ages like a human. I guess the Quasar family has pretty much the status as the Kuchikis."

Hitsugaya looked up, considering this. "I see." He sighed. "I should probably be going," he said, and headed toward the door.

"Hitsugaya," she stopped him as he began to pull the door shut behind him. "Emma's been my friend for 10 years, and you know pretty much her whole story already. So you don't need to spy on her." Hitsugaya paused for a moment, and then closed the door.

Ayumu stood up and stretched. _Why am I so tired today?_ She wondered to herself. Suddenly her knees seem to give out and she fell to sit on the floor. Looking down at her hands she noticed that her vision was slightly blurred. _Maybe I'd better go to bed early…_ she thought, dragging herself up on to her bed and falling asleep almost instantly.

_To be continued…_


	31. Changing minds and changing lives

A/N-I would like to remind everyone again to please not post any specific information in reviews.

X

"e-So… what's with the sweater in the middle of summer?-e" asked Emma. She was wearing knee-length shorts and a green and white short-sleeve shirt. Her comment was in reference to the fact that Ayumu was wearing short shorts, a white tank-top, and a red sweater. Emma, Ayumu, and Hitsugaya were currently having breakfast at an outdoor table of a café. Ayumu, who had recovered overnight, had not mentioned the attack.

"e-I don't know, I was cold on the way out so I just grabbed it,-e" Ayumu said, shrugging.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" said Hitsugaya, who had the top button of his shirt undone and was fanning himself with his napkin. "Did you say you were cold? I'm going to say this very clearly, because obviously something is wrong with you. Now is not the time for cold things. I happen to know something about cold things, and I can tell you from experience that this day is not one of those cold things. Let's ask this convenient thermometer if it's cold today, shall we?" he continued, looking at a thermometer hung on the wall a few inches above his shoulder. "Thermometer, is it cold today? Hmm, the thermometer says that it's 32 degrees out. _Not a cold day._"

"e-Actually, that is pretty cold… is your thermometer buddy feeling ok? Because if it was 32 degrees everything would be frozen…-e"

"32 degrees _Celsius._"

"e-Oh! Well that makes all the difference, doesn't it?-e"

Hitsugaya sighed. "You're hopeless, you know that? Anyway, I have a meeting this morning, I have to go now. Good luck getting over your temperature challenges," Hitsugaya said as he got up and began to walk away.

"e-Thank you, I'll need it!-e"

"e-Actually, I have to go too. Dad decided to randomly walk around soul society and I think he'd be heartbroken if I didn't go with him,-e" said Emma.

"e-Ah, that figures. I guess I'll see you guys later then.-e"

"e-Yeah. Bye!-e"

…

The first part of Hitsugaya's captain's meeting was typical, but it became unusual after the point where it ordinarily would have ended.

"Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro, please step forward," Yamamoto said in his commanding voice. Hitsugaya obliged, slightly confused. "The recent appearance of non-hollow demons has been accompanied by the discovery that certain shinigami have powers specialized to fight them. As you all know, recently research has been done regarding any unusual powers that such individuals might have. Captain Kurotsuchi, please share your findings."

"Yes. With the information gathered the bureau of technological development has found the following: The as of yet nameless technique works on the same principals as healing techniques, but the spirit force involved is compressed and used more as a weapon. Throughout history there are rumors of the most gifted exorcists being able to use it, but never to the extent of what has been demonstrated by specialized shinigami. It also seems to be an ability that can not be acquired; one must be born with the power. Whether or not the ability is linked to if the person performing it is officially 'alive' is yet to be seen, but we are almost positive that the ability is only possible for those who have the gourd used to purify demons visible as a charm on the soul slayer (as opposed to those with the gourd visible as an imprint). Being able to use the technique does not necessarily make one stronger; it depends entirely on the strength of the individual. Though not to be classified as a whole different section, I would recommend that these differences be recognized. We are currently analyzing many other pieces of data, but can not draw any conclusions yet," Mayuri explained.

"Thank you," said Yamamoto. "After having considered this information central room 46 has made an unusual decision: the tenth squad will split into two sub-divisions. Placement into one sub-division or the other will depend entirely on whether the subject can use this technique. Captain Hitsugaya, having the most experience with the individuals using this technique, you are the most qualified to make the initial recommendation of who should captain this new sub-division."

"Although the number of individuals in question is limited," Hitsugaya began, hoping that his time in the living world would not make him appear soft to the other captains, "there is one who is obviously more powerful and a more qualified leader. I would like to recommend Masami Ayumu."

"I'll second that," Ukitake said, stepping forward. Hitsugaya was slightly confused by this since he did not know Ayumu, but he supposed that Ukitake was just trusting his judgment.

Kyoraku also stepped forward. "Why not?" he mumbled, completely going on the fact that his friend agreed.

"I also support this recommendation," said Unohana, stepping forward as well. This made more sense, as Ayumu had met Unohana several times in the hospital.

"What the hell, me too," said Kenpachi, and stepped forward. Hitsugaya had no clue why this was. Kenpachi, like Ukitake, considered himself to have a somewhat fatherly bond with Hitsugaya and was simply trusting his judgment. And of course part of him did hope to get a chance to fight with someone that Hitsugaya considered to be captain class.

Mayuri stepped forward. "This should be interesting," he mumbled under his breath. Undoubtedly he was only doing this to have more interaction with Ayumu for his research without being permitted to dissect her.

Unfortunately, no other captains stepped forward to show their approval of the recommendation. "At the moment we know almost nothing about this girl." Byakuya explained for himself and the other captains. "In order to decide whether or not she is truly worthy of being a captain I would need to know much more than I do now about her power, judgment, and history. As of yet I can not show my support for this recommendation."

Suddenly the doors began to swing open. "e-Please forgive my rudeness for intruding,-e" said a female voice as Emma stepped in. The doors closed behind her. "e-I understand that I am not a part of your world, and that I hold no power here. However, if I may I would like to say some words on Ayumu's behalf.-e"

There was a short silence. "Please speak," said Yamamoto.

"e-Ayumu has always been unusually powerful. Even when I was a captain and she was still in training, she came close to exceeding me. I am sure now that she has. She is a competent leader, and many admire her for her skills and morals. I have always thought, even before she gained death god powers, that someday she would make an excellent captain. I understand that many of you have never met her before. But if you give her a chance I am sure that she will live up to your highest expectation."

Komamura stepped forward almost instantly to show his support. Shortly after this Soifon stepped forward as well, and after a pause, so did Byakuya. Yamamoto remained stationary, but rumor had it that he never involved his opinion in choosing a new captain anyway.

"So it seems that it is decided. Masami Ayumu will be the captain of the new sub-division of the tenth squad."

O

Ayumu had gone home after Emma left. For a while she had just wandered around looking for something to do, but about an hour later a familiar spirit force made it clear that she was needed elsewhere. She swallowed a small green pill, and shot out of her body.

"I wonder when that girl will get here…" said a female demon, shooting part of the sidewalk with a knife on a string from a rooftop. She wore a black and gold cross between armor, a leotard, and a corset. It was the demon that Ayumu had been fighting before Anna had shown up.

"You mean me?" Ayumu asked, landing on the other side of the rooftop.

"Yes, actually! Funny, I was sure you'd be dead by now. Where's your friend?" the demon asked, turning to face her.

"He's busy right now. Well, I might as well finish this up before he gets here," she said with a challenging look on her face. She moved her wrist slightly, as though testing out her motion. _Everything seems good,_ she thought to herself.

The demon let out a short chuckle, and whipped the knife around at Ayumu. Ayumu jumped over it and it slammed into the roof behind her, causing some of it to crumble. As she jumped Ayumu drew Chitose, bringing it sown in a slash as she came down. The demon jumped up and seemed to land on a platform in the sky to avoid her. Ayumu jumped and seemed to land on the same invisible platform. "You seem more aggressive today, maybe you're making up for something?" the demon said playfully as the wind blew past them.

"Not really," said Ayumu, and moved as though to lunge forward. Suddenly her eyes slipped out of focus, her spirit force spiked strangely, and she fell back down to the rooftop. Panting, she caught herself on all fours and looked back up at the demon.

"I really think you are, girl," the demon said in a soft challenging voice. She jerked the string to pull the knife back to her, and then threw it straight at Ayumu.


	32. Original does not have to mean real

A/N- Wow, sorry it took me insanely long to update. Don't hate me! This might be a long chappie.

X

Ayumu had gone home after Emma left. For a while she had just wandered around looking for something to do, but about an hour later a familiar spirit force made it clear that she was needed elsewhere. She swallowed a small green pill, and shot out of her body.

"I wonder when that girl will get here…" said a female demon, shooting part of the sidewalk with a knife on a string from a rooftop. She wore a black and gold cross between armor, a leotard, and a corset. It was the demon that Ayumu had been fighting before Anna had shown up.

"You mean me?" Ayumu asked, landing on the other side of the rooftop.

"Yes, actually! Funny, I was sure you'd be dead by now. Where's your friend?" the demon asked, turning to face her.

"He's busy right now. Well, I might as well finish this up before he gets here," she said with a challenging look on her face. She moved her wrist slightly, as though testing out her motion. Everything seems good, she thought to herself.

The demon let out a short chuckle, and whipped the knife around at Ayumu. Ayumu jumped over it and it slammed into the roof behind her, causing some of it to crumble. As she jumped Ayumu drew Chitose, bringing it sown in a slash as she came down. The demon jumped up and seemed to land on a platform in the sky to avoid her. Ayumu jumped and seemed to land on the same invisible platform. "You seem more aggressive today, maybe you're making up for something?" the demon said playfully as the wind blew past them.

"Not really," said Ayumu, and moved as though to lunge forward. Suddenly her eyes slipped out of focus, her spirit force spiked strangely, and she fell back down to the rooftop. Panting, she caught herself on all fours and looked back up at the demon.

"I really think you are, girl," the demon said in a soft challenging voice. She jerked the string to pull the knife back to her, and then threw it straight at Ayumu.

Ayumu rolled out of the way and the knife slammed into the rooftop behind her, leaving another large crater. "I-is that so?" said Ayumu, still breathing heavily as she struggled to her feet. She stumbled slightly, but continued to try to focus on the demon with blank eyes. Pulling back to get momentum she launched herself at the demon. _I can't maintain standing in the air for too long, so I'll have to keep jumping like this. I don't know if I have enough energy to keep this up for long though. Ah, just go get her and then I can be done with this!_ Ayumu thought as the demon dodged her slash. Though the thought renewed her resolve, she felt her energy draining with each passing moment. She landed in the sky and attempted to leap at the demon again, but hesitated for too long and fell onto another rooftop.

"Yeah. That energy of yours seems to be precious, so I'd stop wasting it on talking if I were you." Too late, Ayumu realized that she was swinging her knife in a huge circle. She turned slowly and saw a glint of silver as the knife closed in on her from behind. Normally she would've had plenty of time to respond, but the air around her felt more like water and in what seemed like an instant the knife was not even an inch from her face…

…the sharp clink of metal on metal rang out. Ayumu opened her eyes slightly -realizing with dismay that even this was a struggle- to see that a now cracked soul slayer had blocked the knife. Ayumu blinked and tried to make sense of her swirling thoughts (as her mind couldn't seem to organize its self) when suddenly she realized she was falling. A hand caught her by her shoulder and she felt the arm connected to it across her back. Her dizzy mind protested that she was still off balance. Through blurred vision she saw that a man with dark wavy hair and large dark blue eyes had saved her. "Brother…" she mumbled. Kotarou looked at her with an expression that was both yearning and confused. "Brother… don't. I don't… want you to die… because of me…" there was a glint of tears in her eyes for a moment.

He pulled her tighter.

"_You know, Kotarou, maybe if you were the youngest you would have a better name."_

_Kotaro and his mother were sitting on the ground just outside the house. Kagemi ran by carrying a sparkler over her head, and Ayumu ran after her laughing. Kagemi insisted that she was too young to play with it, but was also laughing. It was sunset._

"_What do you mean?" Kotarou asked, tearing his gaze away from his sisters._

"_Well, I think I got better at it as I went along. Kotarou-small first born son. It's not a very nice or unique name. But then, Kagemi-beautiful shadow. She was born at sunset, and I named her after the beautiful long shadows. They looked like a painting."_

"_But then what about Ayumu? 'Walk?' It's not even a girl's name…"_

"_It can be either. But, more importantly, I think that was the best one of all. The second she was born, I could somehow tell how much this girl loved life. I knew she would walk across a whole desert if it meant that she could keep some tiny creature alive. So I named her after that."_

"That time, I decided that my sisters were the beauty in this world, and that I would gladly give my life to protect them. But when that moment came… I froze, and couldn't keep my resolve. Now, when I get another chance, I will not let you die again."

A black skirt ruffled in the breeze in front of him, momentarily silhouetted by white. "e-I think that what she means is that she never liked irony.-e"

"W-what?" Kotarou stuttered. He had never seen this girl before, but it was obvious that she knew Ayumu.

"e-Well, like for example someone dying to protect someone who could easily defend themselves in any other situation. Or, like you sacrificing your life here when there are three perfectly good captains that could fight this battle without dying. Well, maybe only two at the moment,-e" Emma said, seeming to stand on a platform just above Kotarou's waist with her back to him. Hitsugaya stood off to her left. Ram stood on the other side of the rooftop from Kotarou.

"Oh, do I have a new opponent now?"

"e-Yeah, you do,-e" said Emma, jumping to stand at the same level as the demon. "e-Sorry to disappoint you though, but I'm not much for physical fighting. _.erihsehC ,ecnaD .maerd a tub si efiL_-e" she said, drawing the small knife at her waist. The entire knife seemed to scatter into several pieces that looked something like flower petals, somewhat like Senbonzakura but with fewer and larger petals. She held up her hand. Thin vines grew in a criss-cross pattern across her hand and a short way down her arm. The rose-like petals blew past the demon, but then somehow found their way back to her and regrouped as a small rose that looked like a ring just under her middle finger. "e-Complete, Reflection.-e" The rose petals spiraled and blew off of her hand again, then regrouped in the air to her left and slightly above her. Silver lines began to spread from it, and then filled in to form the shape of a full length mirror. Emma rested her hand on the side.

"This is your soul slayer? It doesn't nearly befit your rank. Something like that, I can easily just—" without warning the demon threw her knife toward the mirror "break."

"e-Is that so?-e" The demon's reflection also threw her knife. The two knives met… and continued exactly along the same path, the demon's knife shooting into the mirror and the reflection's knife shooting into the real world.

"I see," the demon said dodging the reflection's knife and pulling back her own. The reflection did the same. "That mirror must have some kind of weak point though." Emma's eyes flashed. The demon threw her knife again, at the dead center of the mirror. It had the same effect. The demon dodged and withdrew again. She tried the rose at the top of the mirror, but it was knocked off with a clang. Frustrated, she threw it randomly toward the mirror, forgetting its effect. Remembering too late she dodged, but received a scratch on her shoulder. The mirror cracked slightly in the spot where her reflection had received the scratch. "…Oh, now I understand. In order to defeat you, I need to mortally wound myself."

"Y-you're wrong!" Emma said, her eyes widening and taking a step forward.

"You're saying that, but your face is saying that I'm right. Just lying isn't enough; you have to be good at it. Still, it's an interesting ability. Most people would shrink from the challenge, and try to kill you while ignoring the mirror. But… you weren't counting on a demon were you?!" she said, almost screaming, and threw the knife directly at her reflection. She took a deep breath and stood without flinching as the reflection's knife ripped a gash across her chest and shoulder. A large spider web crack formed in the mirror, and after a moment it shattered. Emma gasped. A gash identical to the one on the demon suddenly appeared on her, and she fell to the street. "So, girl," the demon said slowly turning back to Ayumu and breathing heavily. "Looks like the playing field's been evened. Shall we continue where we left off?"

"e-No,-e" said Emma, flash stepping behind the demon. Her wound had vanished.

"I-impossible…" said the demon, turning to face her.

"e-Really? Well as long as I'm around, anything is possible for you. Remember this?"-e she asked, holding up her hand to show the demon. The rose had reformed just below her middle finger. "e-_Life is but a dream. Dance, Cheshire._ Sound familiar?-e" the demon narrowed her eyes. "e-I didn't think so. I said it backwards a while ago. Ever since these petals blew past you, your mind has been under my influence. I told you, didn't I? That wounding yourself had nothing to do with defeating me. It was just you who chose not to listen.-e"

"…I see. This is an illusionary type soul slayer, no? Well, unfortunately for me, that means that I was tricked into wounding myself. Very clever. But unfortunately for you that means that this wound is just an illusion, and now that I know that it will have no effect on me!"

"e-That's wrong, and given what happened last time I suggest that you listen to me. An illusion isn't something that someone thinks is real that isn't. An illusion is something that's only real to some people and not to others. Just because the thing that hurt you was not real to everyone in the world doesn't mean it wasn't real to you. And just like that knife was real to you, so I that cut. The only difference is that everyone can see that wound, because that was never an illusion in the first place. If a knife that is real to you cuts you then you will be cut, regardless of whether it's real to other people or not. Now then. I would finish this up, but I believe that's your job, captain Hitsugaya.-e"

"I believe it is," he said, flash stepping behind the demon and slashing at her. Using the little strength she had left, she dodged and the slash only gave her a long scratch on her back.

"There's no way… that I'll let you do that to me!" she said, sliding to a halt and suddenly pointing at Ram. He looked surprised. "I would rather die then be 'purified' by this boy who thinks he's a hero of justice!" she screamed. She calmed down momentarily and sighed. "This isn't really working out the way I planned…" she said. "When I came here first, I wanted nothing more then to kill a few 'shinigami' and leave. Maybe a captain. That would really mess them up. But it looks like this is going to be harder than I thought."

"'Purify,' 'shinigami,' you say it like you don't really believe it."

"That's because you're all fakes!" she screamed. "You don't even know what those words mean!" Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes as she spoke. "There's no way I'm letting another demon kill me, force me into some gourd, change my powers around, and pretend that he's a champion for it! I'd rather die! …What? You seem surprised. Heh, maybe you even believed in what you were doing. Well, it's time for a rude awakening. Yes, shinigami are demons. And if you knew anything about them you'd know why I hate you so much. A demon is just a human soul that gains powers. Hollows are the only type of demon that can't breed. There are groups of demons with certain power, like hollows, kitsune, and of course shinigami. There's a school for shinigami now, isn't there? Well someone had to start that school, which means that shinigami were around before that. And for all those years, they were exactly what humans think of them as today, monsters that followed humans around and caused misfortune. Then this little boy comes along preaching that we should go against the natural way of things and use our power to defeat other demons and save human souls at all costs, that we're not really demons and so we should try and defeat monsters, completely ignoring the fact that we're really monsters ourselves. It was just childish innocence; no one should have listened to him. But people did, and suddenly shinigami figure themselves the saviors of soul society! Even back then, your version of purifying was just to strip demons of their powers, and turn them into regular human souls! And now, you're giving demons a chance to join you in your 'righteousness.' You think that demons are just monsters that need to be saved, but you're being hypocrites! It probably didn't even occur to you that I have a name. Well, it's Yamamoto Akafumi, if you were wondering. That one chose to let his powers change and fight with you. Demons have never been much for pride. But you've gone so far with this phony sense of justice that I can't _not_ be offended! And now… you expect me to just roll over and let you do this to me? I'd rather die… the last real shinigami in this world!"

"…Sorry, but I'm not giving you that choice." With this Hitsugaya stepped forward and completed the mission of his first slash, then sucked Akafumi into his gourd.

O

_I guess… this is defeat then. At least I can die knowing that I never gave up._

_No._

_I promised that I would live until I killed that boy… _an image came to her mind. At first it was Hitsugaya, but then it changed. It was a young boy of about seven or eight in a shinigami uniform. He had black hair cut in a traditional samurai style and very small eyes for his age. _…Genryusai… be happy, you're going to 'save' one last demon._


	33. To prepare for battle

Not really sure whether to call this a disclaimer- I actually know nothing about the subconscious, or unconscious, and I don't even know if something called the conscious actually exists. Everything I say about them here is just for the sake of the story.

X

Hitsugaya sighed. It had been almost seven hours, and Ayumu still didn't look any better. The fourth squad had been notified of her attack, but Ayumu had not been brought into the hospital. The reason for this was that it turned out that Emma's mother and father were captain and vice-captain of the fourth squad in America, respectively. Emma's mother had worked on healing Ayumu for a while, but after several hours with no change she concluded that she had done all she could. Though slightly mad at her for giving up he figured that she knew what she was talking about and she had probably already done far more than had taken effect. Ayumu was currently lying on the floor of Emma's hotel room, Emma and Hitsugaya by her side.

After a long silence, Hitsugaya spoke. "Well, if she saw any of it I'm sure that Ayumu was proud of you."

"e-Oh, so you're one of those people who try to make yourself feel better by cheering other people up.-e"

"…Yeah."

Emma sighed. "e-Well, she didn't see any of it anyway.-e"

"How do you know?" said Hitsugaya, wondering whether he was in denial. For some reason he seemed to get argumentative at any mention of Ayumu's condition being any worse than he thought it was.

"e-Ayumu isn't susceptible to illusions.-e" Hitsugaya waited for her to go on. She sighed and got a piece of paper. On the paper she drew three circles, each one inside the slightly larger next one (so the largest circle was broken up into three sections). "e-This is a rough diagram of the soul. Everything outside this big circle is the outside world. this top layer is the conscious, the middle is the subconscious, and the very inside is the unconscious. The conscious is what is exposed to the outside world, and usually what makes decisions. When it's having trouble the subconscious sometimes helps. Somewhere in the unconscious is where an entire new complete soul forms as the soul slayer. Not a lot of research has been done on this, but they say that even though the unconscious is completely buried most of the time it can affect someone's personality, or in some instances even their memories. I was kind of opposed to the experiment that found that out actually… anyway. When someone has a traumatic experience that changes someone's personality, it's because the experience has sunk all the way down to the unconscious and messed with it. Illusion techniques work by creating ripples on the surface of a soul- mine are made by those petals –that penetrate the top layers of the soul into the unconscious, and then control the person's thoughts from there. It's very rare, but with people like Ayumu- -e" she thickened the line between the subconscious and unconscious "e- -there is a slight break between the subconscious and unconscious. It doesn't effect how the unconscious impacts her, but illusions won't work on her.-e"

Hitsugaya contemplated this for a moment. "That makes sense. Still, I've never heard of it."

"e-There are only two reported cases. Strangely enough, the other was my former vice-captain, Anna. Ayumu was probably born with it, but Anna developed it a few months after becoming my vice-captain.-e" At that last comment Hitsugaya looked away. "e-…Well, I guess we know why now.-e"

A small dog that had been curled up on one of the beds looked up, sneezed, jumped down from the bed, and started licking Ayumu's face. Her eyes flickered open. "e-Whaaa… it's Trixie…-e" she said in a whisper-like voice, picking up the dog and putting it on top of her, where it lay back down. "e-Why can't I have a Trixie?-e"

"Alright, you're awake, now you have to go to the fourth squad," said Hitsugaya abruptly, standing up.

Ayumu looked around, trying to figure out where she was. "But… this is the fourth squad." She looked up at him, but looked away and started whistling when she saw his stern expression.

"You don't want to go, do you?" He sighed. "How did I know that this was going to happen?"

"But… like, between attacks I'm fine, so—"

"Listen. Captain Unohana told me to notify her if you had any more attacks, and we never know when the next one could hit, so it's probably better for you to stay there at least for a little while. It would probably help if you tried to cut down on anything stressful… what?" he stopped upon seeing her expression.

"Well, I do agree that it would be better if I went to the fourth squad, even if I don't like it. But… stress has nothing to do with it. I heard some folks talking in the hospital that they thought stress or my heart rate escalating was the trigger for the poison, but I'm pretty sure that's not true."

"…Why not?"

"Well… this attack is part of one that started last night for no good reason." She sighed. "I guess that's just one more reason I should go to the hospital, huh?"

…

Ayumu ended up having some tests done on her and being released from the hospital a few hours later (Hitsugaya was not sure how she kept convincing them to release her, but she really did seem to be fine and he was really too happy about that to argue with her). After getting out of the hospital she seemed to be in a much better (and somewhat hyper) mood.

"Ok!" she said, spinning around. "Now I have a surprise for you! Well, I guess it's not actually a surprise, but still, it's a… new thing! Ok so wait here!" with this she spun around again and ran off.

"e-What do you think it is?-e"

"She probably got her haori."

"e-Oh, that's the jacket thing, right? Yeah, I guess that's it. But isn't there usually some big ceremony?-e"

"Yeah, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Well maybe not desperate, but weird at least," said Ayumu, approaching from the same direction she had just run off in. Hitsugaya had been right; she now wore a white haori with purple lining. Her obi was tied over it so it could still be used to secure Chitose. "So, what do you think? Am I hideous?"

"Actually I think it makes her even cuter," Hanataro (who had been eavesdropping on them) whispered to himself.

"e-Aw, you so pwitty…-e" said Emma, and they proceeded to chat for a while. Hitsugaya just smiled to himself, suddenly feeling like someone very old watching infants play. Still, in the simplest of ways, he was glad that his friend was happy.

"Alright!" Ayumu said, suddenly seeming very lively. "Since I'm officially a captain now, I have to train really hard and live up to it, right?"

"e-Pfft, no, I just goof off all the time!-e" said Emma, waving her hand.

"It's disgraceful…" Hitsugaya muttered to himself.

"Um, excuse me, captain Hitsugaya?" said an approaching member of the bureau of technological development whose name Hitsugaya did not know. He looked around at them. "Please follow me," they said, and walked off in the direction that they had come.

"He's being very mysterious…" Ayumu whispered to Emma.

"Actually this kind of thing happens all the time," Hitsugaya said, turning to follow them.

After a short pause Ayumu said "…um, oh. Well… I guess I was wrong then. Ooh, I have another new thing to show you!" she said, suddenly turning to Emma.

"e-So should we wait for you?-e Emma called after him.

"Do whatever you want!" he called back, waving.

…

"Hey, Ayumu-" Hitsugaya called, jumping into Ayumu's open window from her fire escape. He was now in his gegai, but he held some papers that the bureau of technological development had given him. He stopped speaking when he saw that instead of Ayumu the one in her room (and body) was her 'soul candy' who was painting her nails.

"She went to that guy's shop, the one with the weird hat," she said without looking up.

"Um, much obliged," he said, and climbed back on to the fire escape.

…

Emma had already gone home (after being impressed but somewhat annoyed at seeing Ayumu's Bankai). He found Ayumu in the 'basement,' in Bankai, giving a boulder a severe beating. The white scarf-like thing that was usually tied around her waist had been replaced by her haori, which had taken on a triangular shape (though it was much bigger than the scarf). He noticed that instead of the traditional diamond-shaped insignia around the kanji for 10 there was something more like the outline of a fan.

"Hey, Ayumu!" he said, descending the ladder and waving the papers at her.

"Hm? What is it?" she called back.

"They're designing a new limit for us. Apparently it won't actually restrict our power in the living world, but it'll more restrict its output intensity."

"Its… what?"

"How easy it is to sense our spirit force or the effect it has on things around us."

"Why do they need to do that?"

"Well, this way we can be able to fight at full strength in the living world without causing unnecessary influence, like say giving three of your friends superpowers. And…" he looked off to the side. "Have you been aware of your strength increasing?"

"Not really… I mean I know it must have been but I don't feel any different and people don't treat me differently…"

"Same here, for the most part. But… apparently we've gotten so powerful that estimates say if we got in an argument then everyone in soul society below 30th seat would pass out…"

"Oh, well I guess it's for the best then," said Ayumu, sweat dropping.

"Yeah," said Hitsugaya, staring off into space.

"It must be strange for you to have all this happen so suddenly," Ayumu commented after a pause. "I mean, the structure of soul society is changing, when just a few months ago everything was normal. Well, pretty much anyway. You're used to things taking years to happen—"

"No," said Hitsugaya, suddenly snapping out of it. "If something like this happens you just have to adapt, that's all." He turned to leave, then looked back over his shoulder at her. "I haven't seen you training in a while."

"Well of course! Like I said, I have to live up to my title now after all!" she said, making a muscle pose. Hitsugaya smiled slightly and climbed back up the ladder.

Ayumu's smile faded as the trapdoor closed far above her. She sighed and went back to fighting the boulder, which quickly collapsed into a pile of rubble. She moved on to another one. _Maybe I should have told him…? No, something like that would only make him worry more. The first time I thought it was coming form Kitsune. The second time I was almost too overwhelmed to notice it. But this time I'm sure, part of the force behind this poison is murderous intent._


	34. Digging a little deeper

A/N- I'm baaaaaaacccccccccckkkkkkkkkk! And yes, it's AN-CHA, I changed my name. Wow, this update only took LIKE A YEAR. And for those of you who don't know, that's literal. So sorry. I kinda put it off for a few weeks... and then Death Note happened. Ok! I might actually finish this!

X

"_Ooh, you're really speeding things up. Maybe we'll be out of here soon after all."_

"_Even I can get impatient, Kitsune."  
"Oh, that only took 500 YEARS. What happened to 'it has to be gradual'?"  
"At this point they can't stop us, even if they do figure it out."  
"...are you sure this will fix her?"_

"_Relax, Kagemi. Your sister will be back to the way she should be soon."_

...

"So this Akafumi... sounds like she has some history. She called herself a shinigami, didn't she? Well, I guess we should've seen this coming. There were shinigami before the school, although it does seem like their powers were a bit different back then..." said Urahara, eyes hidden by his hat. He and Hitsugaya had met in the back room to talk about the most recent demon attack and the information that had been brought up. Ayumu had been training in the basement, but had come up to take part in the conversation despite being unconscious for most of the fight in question.

Hitsugaya sighed. "Well, soon there will probably be some kind of decision put in place about what kinds of demons are considered hostile. After all, I would've left Yun well alone if she hadn't practically out and out asked me to purify her."

There was a long pause. "Oh, capitan Masami," Urahara started. Ayumu, not used to responding to her new title, did not look at him until Hitsugaya prodded her with his elbow. "I hope you don't mind, I've been doing some research."

"Hm? On what?" Ayumu asked, wondering why she would mind.

"On your little indecent with Kotarou. How you recovered that girl's memories."

"...Oh."

"It seems that there are no reported cases of someone recovering a dead person's memories accidentally. Of course, there have been no reported cases of a lot of things that have happened recently."

"So you think it has to do with my powers?"  
"Not necessarily, but being a specialized shinigami in general probably has something to do with it. Still, nothing like that has happened to anyone else has it?" Urahara asked, referring to the other specialized shinigami. "It may have something to do with you two being related."

"I was wondering if I was somehow channeling her or something."

"I'm not sure about that, but I checked up on her records. No one named Masami Ayumu ever had a soul burial preformed on them. In that case, she may still be wandering around-"  
"No," Hitsugaya said quietly. "Her soul was gone by the time I got there. Even Kotarou said it, her spirit force vanished the second she died." Hitsugaya had told Urahara what he had remembered about his death, but it was still something he preferred not to talk about.

"So... did Kitsune eat her?" The thought made Ayumu profoundly uncomfortable, even as she voiced it. For some reason, even though she knew they were not, she could not shake the feeling that they were talking about her.

"No... if she had been eaten there wouldn't have been any of her left, and you wouldn't have been able to retrieve her memories. It definitely was her memories? If specialized shinigami have some sort of communicative or empathic power we don't know about, they could have been from Kotarou," Urahara said.

"No... they must've been hers. The memory stopped right when she died, and there were some things in the memory that Kotarou said he couldn't see. Like, he said he didn't know what attacked us, but it was definitely Kitsune's foxfire. And Chitose was there, and he definitely wouldn't have been able to see her-"

"What was Chitose doing in the memory of someone who died almost 500 years before you were born?" Urahara asked suddenly, his usually calm voice betraying just how interesting he found this. For a few moments there was a concentrated silence as they each respectively pondered this. Finally, it was Urahara who spoke up again. "Well, soul slayers _are_ immortal, maybe she was somehow transferred to you..."

"They are?" Ayumu asked, surprised.

"Yes. Soul slayers do not die with their shinigami. It is currently unknown what exactly happens to them, but in the event that a shinigami dies without their soul slayer being damaged the soul slayer stays intact, but then is mysteriously gone when someone goes to retrieve it," Urahara explained.  
"...interesting. So perhaps Chitose originally belonged to the first Ayumu, and was then somehow transferred to you. Well, I suppose that could have caused the memory, perhaps some of those were transferred to you as well... but it still doesn't explain what happened to the original Ayumu's soul," Hitsugaya said.

"...I'm beginning to have a theory about that, I'll look into it and get back to you," Urahara said, standing up. Ayumu and Hitsugaya took this as a cue that it was time to leave, and stood up as well. As they turned to leave however, Urahara called "Oh, capitan Masami." Figuring that he probably wanted to talk to Ayumu alone, Hitsugaya continued out the door.

Ayumu turned slightly to face him sideways. "What is it?"

"Are you alright?" He asked. "I couldn't help but notice, your spirit force has been fluctuating a lot today."  
Ayumu quickly turned away from him. "I'm fine." She began to walk towards the door, but stopped just short of opening it and glanced back at him. "...please don't mention this to anyone." With that, she left.

...

"Bye, then!" Ayumu called, waving to Hitsugaya from the trapdoor. Hitsugaya waved back, and returned to his fighting stance. He had stayed to train with her, but a few minutes earlier she had figured that her family would be worried if she didn't come home soon. Hitsugaya, having no such obligations, was still in bankai, and giving a severe pummeling to a nearby rock. Finally finishing it off with a particularly large blast of ice, he found himself panting. He was slightly surprised by this, because he found that unless actual physical exercise was involved using his bankai didn't usually tire him out. He didn't have long to dwell on this however, because Urahara and Yun were climbing down the ladder. For a second he could've sworn that one of them was very angry with him, but as they approached he saw that he was mistaken.

"How's the training going, captain Hitsugaya?" Urahara asked, spreading his fan with one eye poking out from under his hat.

"Fine, I suppose. What was it you wanted to ask me?" Hitsugaya replied, figuring that for Urahara to take the trouble to come down there he probably wanted to bother him about something. He changed out of his bankai in a flash of light.

"Oh, I just had a few questions about captain Masami," Urahara said.

"What about her?"

"How did you feel about her when you first met her?"

"Uh... not particularly anything. Why?"  
"Just working something out," Said Urahara, obviously thinking. "Then, were there any times that she felt unnaturally familiar to you?"

"If it's because of that girl, then yes, there have been times that I got them confused. But it was only because of her appearance."

"I see... would you like something to drink?"  
"What?" Hitsugaya asked, completely caught off guard by the question.  
"You seem tired, you're kind of panting, and you have been training down here for hours..."

"O-oh..." come to think of it, he was still panting. He was beginning to have a vague lightheaded feeling, as though he had lost too much blood.

"Are you alright?" Urahara asked, but Hitsugaya did not answer. Instead he sunk to his knees and put a hand over his face as his eyes slipped out of focus...

X

A/N-annnddddd... that looks like a good place to end the chappie. Don't worry, I'm determined to finish it this time, and I'll probably update soon.


	35. Poison

A/N-Well, that last chappie actually did a lot to move the plot forward. Hopefully, I can pull off something similar with this.

X

He was only out for a few seconds, and when he came to he found himself sitting exactly where he had been standing a moment before, supported by one of Urahara's arms.

"...did you notice...?" Urahara had just begun to ask Yun.

"Yeah, I did..." she said, leaning down to get a better look at Hitsugaya. "I think he's waking up."

Suddenly Hitsugaya opened his eyes wide and stood, noting with some relief that there seemed to be no residual effects. "Um, sorry about that- I really have no idea what that was about-" He started awkwardly, embarrassed.

"Not at all," Urahara said, standing. "Actually, we may have just learned something very important." He turned to Yun, who was also standing. "Is it possible that it's somehow contagious?"

"Contagious and undetectable? Unlikely. I've never heard of anything like it."

"Then what? Was he somehow contaminated?"  
"I doubt it. It had to be injected after all."  
"Um... what's going on?" Asked Hitsugaya, who did not appreciate them talking about him as though he wasn't there.

"Your spirit force just now followed the exact same pattern as Ayumu's when she's being effected by the poison," Urahara explained.

"What?!"

"Exactly. Why would that happen?"  
"The only thing I can think of is that he was somehow separately exposed to the same situation. Have there been any opportunities to poison you lately?" Yun asked.

"N-no..." Hitugaya said, flustered. "And that's the first time that happened to me..." he continued, thinking hard. Whatever he had been exposed to had had much less of an effect on him than it had on Ayumu. They were basically the same strength, so the effect was probably based on the attack. So whatever had hit him just now was probably significantly weaker than whatever had been attacking Ayumu.

Yun and Urahara seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Why would the poison have a weaker effect here?" Urahara asked.

"That doesn't make much sense. Usually, with an effect like this, poison is poison. I don't really understand what would make it do this... it could always be one I've never heard of, but if you ask me this is getting fishier and fishier... undetectable, reoccurring effects without a trigger, varying strength, and somehow jumping from person to person? I've never heard of a poison that even did one of those things..."  
"Then, what?" Asked Hitsugaya, getting impatient.  
There was no answer.

...

"You're sure it was exactly the same?" Ayumu asked the next morning. She was lying on her bed, partially propped up against a pair of pillows. From the surprise in her voice Hitsugaya would have expected her to at least sit up, but she did not. She rubbed her unfocused eyes, apparently not yet fully awake. He had come to tell her what had happened the night before, but to his surprise he had found her fast asleep still wearing her regular clothes.

"W-well, that's what Urahara said," he stuttered, embarrassed. Important clue or not, it was still slightly embarrassing to have passed out for an unknown reason.

"But what could've-"

"They weren't sure. Yun said she'd never heard of anything like it. They seemed to think the only explanation was that I was somehow separately exposed, but I can't think of when I might've gotten cut recently. And come to think of it, it's weird for two demons to have used the exact same rare poison..."

"...yeah, I guess it is..." Ayumu said, staring up at the ceiling. As she spoke, every few words she seemed to loose her American accent for a second.

Hitsugaya looked at her for a moment. "...are you alright?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just thinking," she said with a quick smile.

He stared at her for another second, then turned back around. Suddenly, something clicked. "Ayumu... why are you hiding your spirit force?" He asked, turning back to her. For the entire day and part of the night before Ayumu had been using her new limit to make her spirit force completely undetectable.

"Oh, just having fun with the new limit."

The line sounded altogether too rehearsed to Hitsugaya. He stood up. "Ayumu, if something's wrong you should go to the fourth squad. Hiding your spirit force patterns won't do any good."

"Neither will going to the fourth squad," she said quietly. Hitsugaya looked away. She had a point. They hadn't been successful in identifying or even finding the poison, and so far no treatment had even remotely helped with the symptoms.

"It couldn't hurt to let them do some more tests..." Hitsugaya eventually said, wishing that he sounded more convincing.

"I don't want to sit around and do nothing." She said, sounding a lot more serious than she might've normally.

Hitsugaya looked around, suddenly wanting very badly to lighten the mood. "W-well, it's not like you have anything to do in the first place anyway," he said with a twitchy smile. Suddenly, however, a demonic spirit force protested otherwise.

"Heh, I guess I do now," she said, and before Hitsugaya had a chance to protest she was out of her body and out the window.

O

"Yohoo? Is anybody here? You know, if you don't show up soon I'm going to have to cause some needless destruction!" The demon called out from the ledge of the rooftop he was currently on. Other than his red eyes, pointed ears, decorated black jumpsuit, and the spines along his arms, he appeared to be a normal eight-year-old human.

"Sorry, was it me that you were looking for?" Ayumu asked, having silently landed on the rooftop behind him a moment before.

"Ooh, are you a captain? I'm lucky today!" he said, rubbing his hands together mischievously.

"Sorry, I don't think so," Ayumu replied, and released her limit.

"Woooowwww..." the demon said in an admiring tone. "So you guys really are stronger than regular shinigami... ooh, I wanna know how it works! Where does all that power come from?" He said, now sounding eager, as though he had just discovered a new project.

"I'm not telling."  
"Oh, so you don't know?" he said slyly. "Then, this is pretty new huh? I bet you don't know anything. Stupid. Ok, then, I'll just fight you, and then I'll figure stuff out, ok?"

"Sounds good," Ayumu said and, in a flash of light, released her bankai.

"Ooh, it gets better? That's cool. I bet you can do even more, huh?" The demon said, leaning towards her in his excitement. "Ok then, I like you. You can be my new mommy. Oh, but we're still gonna fight though."

"Ayumu... that's a bit extreme, don't you think?" Hitsugaya asked, landing just behind her. "You didn't even start fighting yet."

"I was thinking I'd finish this up quickly."

"If you want to leave this to me, I-" but Hitsugaya stopped at this point. With her limit released, it was clear from her spirit force just how much the poison was still effecting her. "H-hey, Ayumu, you shouldn't be fighting in this condition-"

"I'm fine!" she said, louder than was really necessary, and jumped the gap between the two buildings. Without pausing, she turned to the demon and mad a punching motion, releasing a blast of white energy in his direction.

"Wow, that was cool mommy! I didn't know you could do that! Hey, do you have any shield techniques?" he asked, leaping back. He pushed his palm forward, and with a crash like thunder, the concrete between he and Ayumu was destroyed as though a wrecking ball had rolled over it. Ayumu attempted to block it with a wall of the white energy, but she was still blasted backward.

In a second Hitsugaya was in front of her, sword drawn. "Ayumu, go home. I'll handle this."  
"Wha? Are you being mean to mommy? She wants to fight, right mommy?_"  
Damn it, I can barely get up... _"T-that's right, Hitsugaya," Ayumu said, struggling to get up. Her comb slipped slightly from her hair. Hitsugaya looked at her with a pained expression on his face. "Please let me do this. Don't worry..." she said, almost inaudibly, pulling herself up and stumbling a little. "I'll make this quick." With that, she reached out and grabbed Chitose from thin air, pointing it towards the demon. She wasn't sure exactly how she was supposed to charge, she felt that she barely had the strength to stand, yet she was sure that somehow she would find the strength...

"Blood?"

Ayumu looked down at her hand. Hitsugaya was right. The hilt of her sword, and her hand, were dripping with blood. Chitose vanished, and Ayumu fell...

X

A/N-...and again with the evil cliffies. Miss me? Wow, this story is like, almost over. There are probably only like 5 chapters left, max...


	36. Still alive

A/N-I don't know what weirdness is going on with the formating, but I didn't do it.

X

"Hey, what's wrong with mommy?" the demon asked, looking at Ayumu with concern.

Hitsugaya turned to the demon. "Sit upon the frosted heavens... Hyourinmaru!" Hitsugaya leapt up, slashing towards the demon. He dodged, jumping clear over Hitsugaya, and ran over to Ayumu. "Mommy?" He asked, kneeling down and prodding her, sounding distressed.

Turning to look at him, Hitsugaya was disturbed to see that Ayumu was changing out of bankai. As much as he would really like to beat this kid... "She needs to go to the hospital. If you come quietly, I can get her there faster."

The demon stood up and looked at him. "F-fine. But let me see mommy soon, ok?" he asked. Hitsugaya nodded, and sucked him into the gourd.

Before he could replace it, there was a swishing noise. Akafumi stood before him, the only notable change in her appearance being that her sword was now sealed. "You can't purify a shinigami, idiot," she said, with a glance over her shoulder, and flash stepped away.

O

Hanataro was the first to approach them when Hitsugaya flash stepped into the fourth squad barracks. He took her pulse. He didn't say anything, but from his face Hitsugaya assumed that it was nothing good. The two moved her into a room, and then Hitsugaya soundlessly left, slamming the door behind him rather harder than was necessary.

It only took about 10 fruitless minutes looking up poisons in the library for Hitsugaya to get restless enough to go back to the hospital. When he returned, he found Ayumu still unconscious in an oxygen mask and Ururu and Emma sitting by her side. Hanataro was setting up some sort of machine to get readings of her spirit force, and Emma's mother was trying, apparently with no effect, to heal her. He paused by the door of her room and looked down, hesitating. "...you can blame me if you want," he finally said.

Emma looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then turned her gaze back to her friend. "e-It's not your fault,-e" she said quietly. There were a few more moments of silence.

Emma's father, who had been leaning against a nearby wall, walked over and glanced at the readings coming out of the machine by Ayumu's bedside. Suddenly seeming to spot something, he nudged Hanataro and the pair began speaking in hurried whispers. Seeming to come to some sort of conclusion, the pair turned to Emma's mother. "e-I'm going to see Unohana,-e" he said. Hanataro bowed, and the pair left.

Emma's mother looked at the door they had just left through for a moment. "e-Em, this isn't working. I'm going with them,-e" she said. Emma nodded slightly, and she left.

There was a solid minute of silence. Hitsugaya joined Emma and Ururu by Ayumu's bedside. There was some sort of hush over the moment, as though speaking too loudly would throw off some vital balance. "There's something wrong about this," Ururu finally said, almost in a whisper. Emma inclined her head in a way that might have been a nod of agreement if you really looked into it. Hitsugaya understood her point. There was something about Ayumu that made her seem untouchable, especially by something so quiet and insignificant seeming as this. He had always felt that way about her, even when he had first met her. To him, it seemed like even before they had met he had known that nothing could ever really hurt her. And he still felt that way. Even staring at her laying listless in a hospital bed, he still felt that it wasn't possible for her to be in this situation. There was something deeply disturbing about the fact that it was happening anyway. But he said nothing.

Emma's father and Hanataro re-entered the room. Hanataro checked the readings by Ayumu's bedside again, and shook his head at Emma's father. _No change,_ thought Hitsugaya. Whatever had made them go talk to Unohana hadn't improved.

"e-...Em?-e"Emma's father said tentatively. "You know, sitting around here isn't going to do any good." Emma did not respond, but her hand tightened on Ayumu's. "e-Em, c'mon. Allie's making her a present for when she wakes up, I think she'd like it if you helped...-e" Emma said nothing, but with a final squeeze to Ayumu's hand stood up slowly and left the room. A few seconds worth of deliberation later, Ururu jumped up and ran out after them.

A few more silent moments passed. Hanataro cast a few sideways glances in Hitsugaya's direction, seemingly hesitating to say something. Finally Hitsugaya inclined his head slightly and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "U-um! Captain Unohana wanted to talk to you..." he said, bowing, and hurriedly turned back to fiddling with the machine. Hitsugaya sighed, got up, and left the room.

...

"W-what!?" Hitsugaya asked, not even aware of his knuckles turning white as he gripped the fabric of his uniform.

"I understand this is hard for you, if there's anything I can do..."

Hitsugaya exhaled and slumped over in his chair, looking down at his hands. "...how long?"

"It's hard to make a real estimate, we don't have many readings and we only have her previous attacks to go by-"

"HOW LONG?!" a small, detached part of him was amazed at the amount of restraint it took to keep the level of violence down to slamming his fists down on the table.

"...she has until tomorrow afternoon, at the latest."

For a moment, it seemed as though Hitsugaya was watching the world crumble in slow motion. _That soon?_ He wanted to say._ Already? Ever?_ After several tries the shock wore off enough for him to let out a shaky breath, straighten up, and let his hands fall to his sides. He spent a few moments trying to figure out something to say, barely even aware of Unohana in the room.

"...I believe Mrs. Quasar is telling Emma and Ururu-" Unohana began, but was again cut off.

"There's nothing more you can do?" Hitsugaya asked, barely audibly.

"No treatment has had any effect. I'm sorry-"

But Hitsugaya was gone.

...

The sun was setting. Hitsugaya was sitting outside the squad barracks, palms pressed to his temples to hold his head up.

_What can I do?_

For a while had had sat, just like he was now, in the hospital waiting room, but eventually it became too much. He could feel people staring at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking, when even he didn't want to know what he was thinking. He just wanted to be alone.  
_What can I do?_

No he didn't. He hated being alone. He always did. Maybe that's why he hated loosing people so much. Or maybe he was just that type of person. He didn't want anyone else to be alone either. Maybe that's why people feared death. Or feared loosing someone. They just didn't want to be alone. He didn't know. But his worst fear had always been loosing a friend.

_What can I do?_

But that wasn't all. That wasn't the only thing wrong here. There was the fact that he was just sitting here, useless, as his friend was dying, dying, and he had absolutely no say in the matter...

_What can I do?_

And then there was the fact that this was Ayumu. It didn't seem possible. It wasn't possible, and yet it was happening anyway, as though reality didn't care what made sense anymore. It wasn't just that they were friends, if this had happened the day that they had met he would still have known it was wrong. He rejected it with every fiber of his being, as though he alone could save her...

_What can I do?_

Maybe he could. He remembered how Ayumu had come to him during the fight with Kitsune, he was sure that he wouldn't have survived without her...

_What can I do?_

He could go back to the hospital. He could sit by her bed. And maybe if he held her hand tight enough, he could force his way into her dreams, and tell her to keep fighting, no matter what to keep fighting, and even if she was dead and buried it wouldn't matter of she just kept fighting...

Hitsugaya stood up.

It was only two flash steps to the entrance of the hospital. When he got there, however, he did not have a chance to set foot inside the building. "Captain Hitsugaya!" Hanataro said, frantically waving his arm to get the captain's attention from just off the stairs. U-um..." He braced himself, as though he had to say something very important that he would be severely punished for. "Have you seen Ayumu-chan?"

For a second, the sentence made it seem like the whole world had just been playing a little joke, and everything was ok now... then he processed in the context it was in. "...what?!"

"She's gone!"  
"...GONE?!"

"S-she woke up for a second, and I told her what happened, and she asked for a glass of water, and I just turned around for a second to get it, and when I turned back she was gone, don't hurt me!" Hanataro said, much faster than he normally spoke.

Hitsugaya did not hurt him, though if he had not been too busy thinking he might've. He should have seen this coming. She had never liked being in the hospital. What had she said, that she didn't want to sit around and do nothing? Of course she didn't. Ayumu wouldn't be content to lay on her deathbed and wait for it to be over. And if the poison was taking some kind of break, of course she had run away. So where would she go? Where was she now?  
Something clicked, and with a few flash steps Hanataro was left in the dust.

O

After leaving soul society, Ayumu had flash stepped for a little while just to get away from the gate. But then, upon realizing that she didn't have a real destination, she slowed down and eventually ended up sitting on a park bench. The last rays of sunlight disappeared and night descended. There was a swish behind her. A few seconds of silence passed.

"...There's no talking to you, is there?" Hitsugaya asked.

"I'm not going back to the hospital."

"I understand." There was nothing that they could do for her now. All there was left was to let her be happy. "Do you... want anything?"

Ayumu clenched her fist. "You sound like I'm dying." She said quietly.

Hitsugaya opened his mouth. _You are!_ But he could not say it.

Suddenly, Ayumu stood up and turned to him. She had a fierce look in her eyes that he had never seen on her. "You should know better than that." Her voice was quiet. But not the common insignificant quiet used when saying something uncomfortable. She was quiet because she didn't have to be loud.

For a moment, Hitsugaya couldn't help but believe her. Looking at her, she had never looked more alive. Her expression was not that of someone about to die. It was that of someone about to fight. She was going to fight for her life, maybe forever if that's what it took. He should have known that he wouldn't have to tell her. She might not be ready, but it was coming, and she would give her all and then some. And she had been preparing. He remembered how she had been training so hard lately. She had known, maybe the whole time, that it would come to this.

And yet... there was no escaping it. Even if she fought, could she really win? Would there even be anyone to fight? He still wasn't sure if he had really come back from the dead that time with Kitsune, and if he hadn't, then there was no way, no way at all... no matter how much she fought, it simply wouldn't be up to her.

"Don't look at me like that!"

"_Don't you think it's been enough of a break?"_

"Damnit..."

"_She's bound to have run away from the hospital by now."_

"I don't want to die..."

"_I suppose you're right, Kitsune."_

"I don't want to die..."

"_I suppose it is time to bring this to a close."_

"I don't want to die!"

_At first, the katana only made a dull thud as it hit the spot on the tan wall that seemed to have been dug out by a sword. Then, slowly, the wall began to crumble. The pieces broke off faster and faster, the wall disappearing into a bright, white light..._

"I want to live!"

The gourd charm on Chitose's hilt shattered. It seemed to explode with a bright, white light. Blood splattered in every direction. Ayumu sunk to her knees. Silhouetted against the light were three demons. The body of the one in the middle seemed to have been ripped along her cheek, her torso, and her hands. Her skin seemed to be pealing off in those places, revealing something metallic and sharp underneath. The other two were Kagemi and Kitsune.

Hitsugaya knelt and caught Ayumu before she hit the ground. "How did you-" he began to ask, but suddenly his eyes narrowed on the middle demon. He knew the other two, but somehow... she must have had something to do with this. "You... who are you?"

"Who am I?" she said, speaking in a voice that was high and sharp, like a raptor's cry. "I suppose you could say I'm-" she raised a blade-like finger, ripping out from what looked like a torn flesh-colored glove, and pointed at Ayumu "-the one who killed that girl."


	37. The cut of the blade

A/N-I made a slight change to the end of the last chappie, but you can just read it here. By the way, um, if you have an account, could you maybe review please? I'm grateful to Hikari6007 and all, but it's kind of depressing to come back after so long and have only one person reviewing...

X

"_Don't you think it's been enough of a break?"_

"Damnit..."

"_She's bound to have run away from the hospital by now."_

"I don't want to die..."

"_I suppose you're right, Kitsune."_

"I don't want to die..."

"_I suppose it is time to bring this to a close."_

"I don't want to die!"

_At first, the katana only made a dull thud as it hit the spot on the tan wall that seemed to have been dug out by a sword. Then, slowly, the wall began to crumble. The pieces broke off faster and faster, the wall disappearing into a bright, white light..._

"I want to live!"

The gourd charm on Chitose's hilt shattered. It seemed to explode with a bright, white light. Blood splattered in every direction. Ayumu sunk to her knees. Silhouetted against the light were three demons. The body of the one in the middle seemed to have been ripped along her cheek, her torso, and her hands. Her skin seemed to be pealing off in those places, revealing something metallic and sharp underneath. The other two were Kagemi and Kitsune.

Hitsugaya knelt and caught Ayumu before she hit the ground. "How did you-" he began to ask, but suddenly his eyes narrowed on the middle demon. He knew the other two, but somehow... she must have had something to do with this. "You... who are you?"

"Who am I?" she said, speaking in a voice that was high and sharp, like a raptor's cry. "I suppose you could say I'm-" she raised a blade-like finger, ripping out from what looked like a torn flesh-colored glove, and pointed at Ayumu "-the one who killed that girl."

"You..." it was Kagemi that had spoken. She had her eyes glued to Ayumu, who lay limp in Hitsugaya's arms. "You said... you said that she wouldn't be hurt... you said we'd just fix her, and then she's be ok..."

"Oh? I suppose I did say something like that. Then, let me tell you a little secret... I lied." With that the demon made a motion similar to throwing something at Kagemi, and as she did five or so blades shot off her arm and straight through Kagemi, pinning her to the ground and suspending her a few feet in the air.

Hitsugaya, who had been trying desperately not to think about the limp form in his arms, was nonetheless surprised to feel her stir. "Don't... don't hurt Kagemi..." with what must have been her final bit of strength she lunged at the demon, drawing Chitose and slashing down to cut the demon in half.

"Still alive?" the demon asked. "Very well then, have your final attack. I owe it to you, for being such a courteous host. But I wouldn't use that sword girl, it's..." as Ayumu drew her sword, the blade began to sparkle strangely. By the time she had completed the motion of her slash, the blade had turned to dust and all that was left was a disintegrating hilt in her hands. The feather from the end, which had come off with the gourd, had long since shimmered out of existence. "...empty." Ayumu had nothing to do but kneel in front of the demon. "Let's try something," the demon said, and reached backwards as though to unsheathe a sword.

Instinctively, Hitsugaya drew Hyourinmaru and charged a few steps forward, but stopped when the demon addressed him. "Relax, boy, I can't make her any worse. If she's lucky she has a few hours of blinding pain left. And besides-" there was a clanking noise as she drew the sword. It seemed to come out of her back itself, ripping through her skin as it did. It was Chitose, blood spilling down the hilt from the hole where the gourd charm had once been. "-this probably won't do anything." She brought the blade down towards Ayumu, who could only narrow her eyes in anticipation, but the blade stopped just short of her face. "See? Still won't hurt it's old master. Oh well. Once I defeat her, Chitose will finally be all mine. But don't worry about that, boy, I've already arranged for it."

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" in an explosion of ice and light Hitsugaya broke out of his numb, paralyzed state and charged the demon, slashing at her from the side. There was a blast of steam and ice and water. It blew away most of what was left of the demon's peeling skin, revealing a metallic body underneath that seemed to be made of blades as the haze cleared. But despite all of this, the drops of blood that fell to the ground were Hitsugaya's. His hands, still clutched around the hilt of his sword, were bleeding. The demon's arm, faced with the full force of his slash, had not budged.

"Hm," the demon let out a single syllable of laughter. "Hyourinmaru really is a beautiful sword. You're very lucky I never really cared for the elemental types, otherwise it'd be you lying there..." she commented. In spite of himself Hitsugaya could not help looking at Ayumu as she lay on the ground out of the corner of his eyes. "You can take her to the hospital, you know." As the demon paused Hitsugaya looked back up at her, shocked. "Don't worry, I don't mind. I get what I want and you get what's left. I can't get anything else from you, and really you can't get in my way, so you're free to do what you like. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and there's no point in lying to you anymore, but unfortunately we have some business to attend to. For now, I'll give you a clue, see if you can figure it out... let's see, I'll tell you my name." Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. What could her name do? The demon had turned her back to him, and was now walking, slowly, away. "My name... is Haningyotsukai."

Hitsugaya's eyes opened wide. He knew the name... he had heard it somewhere, late in his lessons to become a shinigami...

"As you contemplate that, I really must be going." Haningyotsukai paused for a second. "Kitsune, make sure you take care of that," she said, motioning to Kagemi.

"Of course, did you think I'd really forget?" Kitsune said. Hitsugaya glanced at her, he had almost forgotten she was there.

"Fine then. Do whatever you want, but make sure whatever it is it kills a lot of shinigami. I have someone special to go see." with that she resumed walking, and after a few paces, vanished.

Hitsugaya turned to Kitsune, and took a defensive stance to protect Ayumu. Kitsune laughed. "As much as I'd like to rip your little spines out, kid, if she says leave you then I'll leave you. That arrogant little..." she swore rapidly under her breath a few times and took a vial of something red out of a fold in her dress. She threw it at Kagemi. The vial shattered. Kagemi's shadow darkened, then began to expand, first slowly and then gaining in speed. It consumed everything in it's path, moving outwards into a large circle with Kagemi at the center. Her eyes looked strangely hollow.

As much as he would love to stick around and find out what was going on (or better yet, stop it) Hitsugaya's first priority was taking care of Ayumu. He grabbed her by the wrist and flash stepped away.

O

Having sensed the strange spirit power released, Ichigo was out of his body and wandering the streets looking for the source when a strange figure approached him. Her clothes, and even her skin, appeared to be ripped in places, reveling a different, metallic body underneath. She took a step towards him. He gripped Zangetzu's hilt. "Who are you?"

"Haningyotsukai. I'd say it's a pleasure to finally meet you, but that's simply not true. I'm only interested in the one in your right hand."

"Z-Zangetzu?"

"Yes," she said. She raised an arm, metallic palm facing her. "A wonderful ability, Getsuga Tensho. Compressing your spirit force into an extension of the slash... I don't think you could possibly understand exactly how useful an ability like that could be. So many possible applications. And permanent release yet... do you know _why_ a soul slayer is permanent release? It happens when a shinigami is incapable of compressing their spirit force into a sealed form. In Chitose's case, it's because it simply can't be done. That power would blow apart the sealed form in an instant. I'll have her soon. But in your case... you're just too weak. You have barely any control over your spirit force, other than Getsuga Tensho. Poor Zangetzu. Under appreciated and in the hands of someone who can barely even control his spirit force. You know, I can..." with a clinking noise, she extended her arm towards him. "...free you right now, if you like."

Without warning, Zangetzu threw itself off of Ichigo's back, unraveled its wrappings, and pointed itself at Haningyotsukai, so quickly that Ichigo almost lost his hold on the hilt. he spent an instant staring at his sword, then turned to her. "Heh, I guess that means no," he said.

She smiled slightly. "That has yet to work even once. Oh well. I guess it's back to the old fashioned way. Sorry, I'm going to kill you now."

Ichigo planted a hand on his shoulder. Blue spirit force blasted up from the ground below his feet. The wrapping from Zangetzu's hilt spiraled up his arm. "Is that so? Sorry, I don't think so. Bankai." There was a large amount of dust kicked up. The tattered edge of Ichigo's coat fluttered in the wind of his own spirit force. "Tensa Zangetzu."

Haningyotsukai was completely unfazed. She flipped her hand over, so that her palm now faced the ground. Suddenly a hailstorm of blades was coming at him. He managed to knock them all away, but... "That technique... that was Baishin's!"

"Yes, I suppose you did know it that way. By the way, thank you ever so much for killing him for me."

"You... what exactly are you?"

"I told you already... I'm Haningyotsukai." Ichigo narrowed his eyes, and deciding that he would get no answers from talking to her further, moved to charge. Yet, mid-step, he stopped. _W-what?_ He tried to continue, but found that he could not make himself move. "Oh, you look surprised. Didn't you know? A soul slayer has the right to possess their shinigami at any time."

"_Sorry, Ichigo,"_ said an echoing voice behind him, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. _"But this is... my fight."_

Ichigo sighed, and closed his eyes. "Don't get me too beat up." When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on the side of a building in his inner world, completely alone.

O

Hitsugaya landed on a nearby rooftop and looked back down on them. The slimy black creatures that she had used against Ayumu were clambering out of the vortex that was Kagemi's shadow en mass, hundreds spilling into the surrounding area. Kitsune jumped and landed several meters above them on an apparent invisible platform in the sky. She turned her head downward and breathed out a haze of red smoke-like creatures. As the two sets of creatures contacted each-other, each pair melded into a perfect replica of Kitsune.  
"Dammit..." Hitsugaya swore under his breath. He shifted his gaze down to his friend and, trying desperately not to notice the blank look in her eyes or the coldness of her skin when he picked her up, lifted her up to flash step away. As he did so, however one of the replicas spotted him. It pointed at him, grinned, and within seconds it was on the roof top with them.

"Sit upon the frosted heavens, Hyourinmaru!" _Dammit, I don't have time for this! I have to get Ayumu back to soul society, I have to warn everyone!_ He thought, setting Ayumu down and sending the ice dragon spiraling towards the copy. Suddenly he had an idea. Running his hand along the flat of the blade, he withdrew the gourd. As he had expected, the form of a boy of about nine with black spiked hair, red eyes, and pointed ears appeared before him. He was wearing a shinigami outfit. "Take care of this for me, ok?" Hitsugaya called over his shoulder, and sending a final blast of ice at the copy, lifted Ayumu and flash stepped away.

...

"...please don't." Apparently Hanataro hadn't had the guts to talk to Hitsugaya himself, so it was some lower fourth squad member who received his quiet rejection.

"S-sir-!" He seemed about to say something, then looked down. Even without facing him, Hitsugaya could tell that he was reconsidering what to say. Still, no matter what he said, Hitsugaya was sure it wouldn't be the right thing, a notion that was soon proved spectacularly. "Sir, there's noting we can do now. And frankly, from what you've said, we'll soon need the beds... I'm-I'm afraid we'll have to move her to the morgue!"

He noted the strangely subdued expression on Hitsugaya's face, despite the inhuman speed with which he had turned to face him. "Is she dead?" he asked quietly, in a flat tone sightly higher than the usual pitch of his voice. The healer swallowed, and hesitated for long enough to make it clear what he wanted to say. Suddenly, Hitsugaya was within a few feet of him, a much more determined expression on his face. "You're wrong," he said, even more quietly.

"e-Go ahead, move her.-e" Emma, who had been sitting in a chair in the corner, spoke for the first time. Hitsugaya looked at her, a combination of shock and anger on his face. Did she really think that her friend was dead? That someone like Ayumu was even capable of dying? Emma looked at him for a moment out of the corner of her eye, then said in a flat, defeated tone, "e-If she's still alive, it doesn't matter where they put her.-e" She clearly didn't put any credence into the argument herself, but it was enough to sedate Hitsugaya. He waved irritably to the healer, who quickly left. Hitsugaya turned back to the window.

There was a bang at the door of the waiting room, and the latest demon-turned-shinigami came rushing in and walking straight up to Hitsugaya. "Where's mommy?" He demanded.

"e-Who are you?-e" Emma asked.

"Akinori Katsutoshi. Where's mommy?" He said quickly. There was a moment of silence, in which everyone looked at the ground. He looked around at everyone. "Where's mommy?" he repeated again. "Where's my pretty mommy?" he continued to look around, taking a few steps in each direction. Slowly he lowered his eyes to match those of all around him, and stood still. "...Why do my mommies always have to die?" he asked quietly. Nobody said anything. There was an excruciating pause. "...was it my fault?" he asked. "It's usually my fault..."

Emma stood up abruptly. "e-It wasn't your fault,-e" she said. "e-...but I know whose it was.-e" And she was gone.


	38. Silent death

A/N-wow, fillers are AWEFUL. I officially disregard filler information. What's that? I used a vital piece of information from an OVA in the last chapter? T-that's completely different! Oh, and by the way, I made a tiny but important change to chapter 36.

X

Emma stood up abruptly. "e-It wasn't your fault,-e" she said. "e-...but I know whose it was.-e" And she was gone.

Hitsugaya stood up to stop her, but she had already left. Before he had a chance to go after her, however, a notice came blaring from every building in Seireitei: _"Attention all shinigami. Attention all shinigami. Soul Society has been breached, repeat: Soul Society has been breached. We believe the ryoka to have entered in large numbers from points near all four gates, and are planning to force their way into Seireitei. We have reports that they seem to be an army of identical demons. One gatekeeper has already been overpowered. All shinigami to battle stations, repeat: all shinigami to battle stations."_

"How did they-" he began, still staring at the now silent loudspeaker. Then something clicked. "Akafumi!"

"Captain!" Matsumoto said, flash stepping into a full bow behind him.

"Matsumoto!" He responded, thinking fast. "Get Ram and Ururu and go to the shinigami academy. Tell them to cut any student who might be one of us. Then you and Ururu come to the living world to fight, have Ram stay here and defend Soul Society. Actually, they're after shinigami, so as you go try to convince as many as you can to go to deserted areas in the living world so no one else gets hurt. You," he said, turning to Akinori, "You're coming with me to the living world. Just kill as many of the copies as possible. Don't even bother trying to purify them." Matsumoto and Akinori nodded, and all three of them flash stepped away.

O

Soifon was surrounded, Haori thrown to the wind, Suzumebachi already released.

O

Kira and Hisagi stood back to back. The temple-like ceiling they stood under was covered in the clones, more and more crawling in like spiders and descending the supports of the building.

O

Renji nodded to Byakuya and they split up, half of the mass of copies following each one.

O

"Well, we don't care about you," one of the copies said to Kenpachi (who hadn't even bothered testing them before ripping off his eye patch) "...we just came for the girl."

O

Uketake and Kyoraku had moved to a secluded area so as not to endanger their subordinates, but as more of the copies came rippling in the meadow was quickly becoming crowded.

O

Yamamoto looked out at Seireitei from the balcony outside his office. Though he could not see any of the conflict directly, it was clear from the spirit force in the air that a huge battle was brewing. There was a light footstep on the wood behind him. "I always feared you would do something like this... Akafumi."

Akafumi gave a bow so deep it was comical. "Oh, how very _wise_ of you. But sorry to disappoint, I just took advantage of someone else's plan and let them into soul society."

"Why?! After all of this time, is it still revenge that you're after?" The general asked suddenly, turning to face her.

Akafumi looked up from her fake bow with obvious contempt. "...sorry, I guess I'm just not as forgiving as you, oh great Genryusai-_nii-sama_." She stood and unsheathed her sword. "Devour, Onryou!"

O

The first rays of the next day's sunlight were rapidly breaking over the horizon. Kitsune was in exactly the same place she had been in the night before, still using Kagemi's powers to make copies of herself. There was the faintest tapping noise as someone landed on the building behind her, but the spirit force attached to it made her turn. "Ooh, that's quite the murderous aura you've got there. I wonder- hey, I know you!" Kitsune grinned impossibly widely. "You're that one, you were with the girl back then!" _Ayumu, then much younger, had thrown herself in front of Emma. Kitsune hadn't been doing anything, but just her appearance was enough._ "Ohoho, are you here to avenge her? I just love a good grudge. They make you all so _serious_!" With that, she abandoned her cloning project altogether and launched herself headlong at Emma.

"e-Life is but a dream. Dance, Cheshire.-e" Emma dodged the strike by inches, and released a burst of petals into the air.

"Aw, at least say somethin' interesting!" Kitsune said, and quickly changed her forward strike into a downward slash. It seemed to hit her dead on, but there was nothing to hit, it just melted right through her... Kitsune reached up and grabbed something that had been just about to slash through her left shoulder.

Emma, who had been guiding the blade and was now above her, was almost pitched head over heels by the sudden stop. She pushed off of the sword that she had conjured, which vanished, and turned back to Kitsune to wait for the next attack.

And Kitsune just chuckled. "So cute! You're all so clueless. Did you think I wouldn't know how to deal with an illusion? That it would take me by surprise? Idiot. I was..." for an instant, her expression had been almost serious, but now it split back into a classic impossibly wide grin "...already insane." She pulled back and rocketed toward Emma, arm outstretched. Emma re-conjured her blade, but didn't get to use it. A small hand on Kitsune's wrist stopped her. She looked sharply to the right.

Ayumu was already in bankai, but the phoenix tattoo that usually spiraled up her body was conspicuously absent. Her comb, too, was different; it rested a few centimeters lower in her hair than usual. Her eyes were blank, but her expression was intense. She said nothing, but used the hand on her wrist to push Kitsune back.

Kitsune slid almost 10 meters. "You _again_? Honestly, I'm getting sick of you." Ayumu said nothing, but just stared at her. "...I see, not talking? If I was in you're position I wouldn't waste my energy either."

"e-Ayumu- -e" Emma began to speak, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't!" Hitsugaya hissed in her ear. "Let her do what she wants," He said, lowering his tone to a whisper. "This fight... is the only thing keeping her alive."

Ayumu was about a meter in front of them. She had been looking at them out of the corner of her eyes, but now she shifted her gaze forward. "Humph," Kitsune huffed, a cross between amusement and annoyance on her face. "I really do wish you would just die already and get this over with. No offense, it was fun and all, but I want my jewel back. Why are you here anyway? I thought you losers liked to die in peace! Well then," she said, pulling back "I guess I'll just have to finish you. You just stand there and pray," she opened her hand and lunged toward Ayumu "that there are enough shinigami left alive to arrange your funeral!"

Ayumu vanished. A second later her heels came down on Kitsune's shoulders, sending her crashing to the ground below. As she looked down, the comb in her hair slipped a little further. "...you little-!" Kitsune came rocketing out of the dust. Ayumu tried to dodge her again but was too slow, and received a hard kick under the chin that sent her flying upward. She then received another kick, this time to the ribcage; but before she could go flying sideways she was caught by the wrist. "You think you're going to do something?" Kitsune shrieked, and punched Ayumu in the stomach, sending her flying backward into a building. "You think there's something left for you?" She grabbed Ayumu by the hair and flung her to the ground, creating a large crater. The comb slipped a little further. "You're an inch from death! Just lie there quietly in your ditch and die!" She might have said something else, but she didn't have a chance.

"Sorry," Ayumu said quietly, so close as to almost brush her arm with her nose. "I always knew..." she was somehow falling as she spoke, but ensuring that she was in exactly the right position "...that they would have to drag me kicking and screaming from this world." she didn't speak the enchantment, but wordlessly placed a hand on Kitsune's midriff and shot a blast of red fire clean through it. "...goodbye, Kitsune."

She remained motionless for a moment. Then, as she spoke, the blood from her wound seemed to float slowly through the air. "...you know, Kitsune was never my name. It just means fox. That's all. Imagine that. If you got so strong that even all of the other shinigami just called you 'shinigami'. It's annoying. My name is..."

_The people in the village had always known that there would be something wrong with a child born to a mother who smiled during childbirth. Even throughout her first few years, nobody seemed to able to get her to stop hitting the other children. They were all afraid of her. She seemed to like that from the very beginning. By the time she was four she had developed a habit of torturing the small animals and fish that she found out in the woods and lake near her house. When she was six they finally banded together and set the village dogs on her mother. No one seemed particularly surprised when the woman sprouted fur and ran away. They were surprised however when they woke up the next morning and found all of their dogs dead. They all shunned her from that moment on. She didn't care, she preferred that they did. It just made the kids that came to visit her in her dark room on a dare all the more scared. She discovered her fox form when she was twelve. She already had five tails. She used it to terrorize the entire village, and eventually destroyed it. She moved from town to town, haunting people at night and frightening any travelers she found along the way. She was 19 when she discovered her jewel. It had always been inside of her, but somehow this was the first she had seen of it. She stopped aging at that second. It was beautiful, burning with the flames from her very soul. Her first and only prized possession. What was she supposed to do when it was stolen? She pledged allegiance. But no, that wasn't good enough. She wouldn't get it back until she helped fulfill her new master's greatest wish. So, she killed the stupid kids. But that wasn't good enough. 'Come back when I tell you' Haningyotsukai said. Fine, whatever. She had a few hundred years. And that boy just looked so cute when he was scared... _

"...Akiyo Katsue."

"...then, goodbye, Katsue." There was no body. There was just a flash of light, and for a second a ghostly flame hung in the air. Then it, and she, was gone.

There was an instant of stillness. Then, a sound like a knot suddenly coming undone, and Ayumu's comb sparkled as it fell from her hair. She moved her hand just enough to catch it. Emma barely saw her move, but in a second she found Ayumu's hand on her cheek. _BEAT._ She smiled. _Beat._ It wasn't a smile that said 'goodbye', or even one that said 'it's ok, I want this'. It was a smile that said 'don't worry, I'll handle this'. _Beat._ She held up the comb. Emma stared at it, then looked up at Ayumu. Ayumu gave the faintest of nods. 'Take it,' she was saying. Emma looked back down at the comb. She reached out a hand and grasped it, but did not take it. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized that something was missing. _She's... already dead!_ Emma took the comb.

Her hand slipped off of Emma's cheek, and, eyes still open, she fell backward...


	39. Soul slain

A/N-Sorry this took so long, but it's worth it. You will finally get to see the true extent of my awesomeness. On that note, I have two comments to make: 1) this chappie might be insanely long, but it will definitely pay to read the whole thing, and 2) can I get some reviews for _this_? But I'm serious, this will be awesome. If you read this chapter and then go back and reread the whole thing you will see so much foreshadowing and hints it's not even funny.

X

There was an instant of stillness. Then, a sound like a knot suddenly coming undone, and Ayumu's comb sparkled as it fell from her hair. She moved her hand just enough to catch it. Emma barely saw her move, but in a second she found Ayumu's hand on her cheek. _BEAT._ She smiled. _Beat._ It wasn't a smile that said 'goodbye', or even one that said 'it's ok, I want this'. It was a smile that said 'don't worry, I'll handle this'. _Beat._ She held up the comb. Emma stared at it, then looked up at Ayumu. Ayumu gave the faintest of nods. 'Take it,' she was saying. Emma looked back down at the comb. She reached out a hand and grasped it, but did not take it. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized that something was missing. _She's... already dead!_ Emma took the comb.

Her hand slipped off of Emma's cheek, and, eyes still open, she fell backward...

She was vaguely aware that Emma had flash stepped below her and caught her. 'Don't worry,' she wanted to say, 'I'm fine.' But she couldn't. Because she kept falling. Her vision became two points of light, receding further into the darkness as she fell away from them. She was no longer in her bankai outfit. She was now wearing a purple kimono with white flowers. She was beginning to realize that she was not simply falling through blackness. Something red was creeping in around the edges of her vision.

_...a sky?_ As she fell further away from it Ayumu was beginning to be able to make out the shapes around her. She had fallen out of a huge hole, torn in a vast, red sky with black clouds. _What happened?_ She wasn't sure exactly what world she was in or why, but a sky like that couldn't be a good thing. There was a clinking metallic jingle, and Ayumu looked at her body. There was a chain attached to her, extending up into the dark hole that she had come from, but she recognized that it was not the chain of fate. It was too low, between the lowest of her ribs. And it wasn't attached to her... suddenly she realized that it was going through her, there was a wound that went straight through her and the chain had been passed through that hole like thread through the eye of a needle. She recognized the wound. It was the one that she had felt that night in the clearing, the one that she had remembered with Kotarou's retelling: the wound that killed the first Ayumu. Only then did she first feel the pain and see the blood.

Suddenly the slack in the chain reached its limit and it straightened. Ayumu felt as though something was being ripped from her. She closed her eyes for an instant and when she opened them she saw that the chain was no longer attached to her but entangled around something else. It was a gigantic red bird, writhing and shrieking in an attempt to escape her bonds. Some of the phoenix's feathers were broken, some draped in blood that could have easily been either hers or Ayumu's. _Chitose-!_ Ayumu reached out, trying to think of some way to help, but she was still falling and had no way to reach her.

She was beginning to think that she might never hit the ground, but she did, and with incredible force. The ground, too, was red; as was the dust kicked up by her impact. It occurred to her, as the dust cleared, that this world seemed as though it had been stained; it was red with blood and sunset. Memories of death.

The blood pouring from her wound barely stood out against the hard red ground. She glanced around, unsure if she could get up, or even if she could. Her fall had created a large crater, but had not interfered with the rest of the landscape. The red ground was probably flat, but it looked somehow warped so that the horizon appeared lower at the center no matter what direction she looked. The only blights on the landscape seemed at first glance to be the large red boulders that cast too-dark shadows, but as she tried to focus her eyes she saw that there were occasional dusty white spots. _Bones,_ she realized. In some places, there were entire skeletons. Her eyes touched on something closer and widened. _A body?_ She used her arms to drag herself closer. It was Anna. Her irises were back, but her eyes were blank. The three swords that had been in her back the last time Ayumu saw her seemed to have been ripped out, and now she lay in a pool of dried blood. Ayumu shook her a little, knowing it was useless.

"She won't wake," said a high, echoing, metallic voice behind her. Ayumu whipped her head around. A body that seemed to be made of blades stood on a boulder on the other side of crater made by Ayumu's fall. "She's dead," the woman explained. "I killed her. Just like..." she raised a sharp finger and pointed at Ayumu "...I killed you."

"I... I'm not dead!" It took a lot more effort to speak than she had expected.

The woman seemed to frown slightly. "No, and that is a bit inconvenient. Well, I just have to stay here until you do. It won't be long now."  
Ayumu would have rejected the statement, but she had something more pressing that she was wondering about. "But... the poison..."

"Oh, the poison that I had Kitsune mention? I believe that she ended up saying 'maybe you shouldn't move around so much, you'll make that poison spread faster'. Sound familiar? Honestly, I had a few doubts about that part. Oh, you would never doubt the poison, I knew that much. But I suppose it was just luck that no one noticed that she cut you. Not that it would've mattered much."

Ayumu continued to stare at the woman with an angry and confused expression. "...of course we noticed that she cut me," she eventually said. "That's how I got the poison in the first place."

"Well of course you noticed that, that was the whole point of the fight. But nobody seemed to remember the first thing you ever learn about shinigami." The woman received nothing but a questioning look from Ayumu. "Have you forgotten too? I had Anna tell you herself. The only thing that can cut a shinigami is a soul slayer."

"T-then, how-"

"I gave her one!"

"Where did you-"  
"Hmm, now it seems you're curious. I suppose this means you won't just sit there and go quietly?"

Ayumu dragged herself up to a basically standing position, looked up at the woman, and gave her the most ferociously determined look she could muster. The difficulty of the motion was incredible.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to explain from the beginning." There was a great rumbling, and the world seemed to shake. "First, let's get the basics. My name is Haningyotsukai. Since you never went to school to become a shinigami, I suppose I'll have to tell you why that's important. Haningyotsukai is the name of the first and only ever blade-controlling type soul slayer."  
"A-a what?"

"That's right," she said.

The scene seemed to flicker before Ayumu's eyes. Suddenly she was watching something different entirely. She was looking at a woman, standing in a dark misty forest. The woman was wearing a long flowing black kimono with a few layers of identical white robes beneath it that hid most of her body in layers of cloth. She was facing a man in a less dramatic yukata, which was also black. He was holding a dagger, which Ayumu immediately recognized as the one that Kitsune had used against her. "Humph!" The woman scoffed. "You call that a soul slayer? I doubt it even cuts."

"Soul slayer?" Ayumu asked.

"That's right. These are shinigami from back when they were just regular demons. 'Prehistoric shinigami,' I call them. Watch."

The woman shifted slightly, and revealed from the folds of her robes that she held a katana with a decorated silver sheath. With a delicate hand she pulled the sword ever so slightly from the sheath. "Tighten the strings, Haningyotsukai." The blade gleamed, and the various parts of the sheath seemed to be pushed away from it, hanging in midair but revealing the sword underneath. The glow of the sword reflected a silvery light into her face. Suddenly the man seemed to be having trouble controlling the dagger in his hands. He trembled, struggling with it for a moment, then suddenly it turned of it's own accord and stabbed its master in the throat. Behind the woman there was a clinking sound, and Haningyotsukai materialized. The memory version of her was different, there seemed to be far fewer blades making up her body. She walked over to the man's corpse and picked up the dagger from between his fingers. "Haningyotsukai... I've never seen you in this world before," the woman commented.

Haningyotsukai looked up at her. "I never wanted to come before," she replied. She held the dagger up to the light and looked back at it. "You were right, this is junk. But still, I can use it. I should probably tell you... each time we defeat a shinigami, I have been stealing their soul slayer."

"...you have? Why then... why didn't you tell me? We could have been using that power!"  
"Oh, no, no. You see, _I_ needed that power."

"What? Why? What could you need power for that I don't?"

"Oh... to do this." Suddenly, and with such a rapid motion that the woman did not even see it, Haningyotsukai threw the dagger at her. It pierced her chest, knocking her off her feet and pinning her to a tree. Haningyotsukai turned and walked away.

There was a shattering sound. The tips of the trees, the woman, and even the sky were slowly breaking into smaller pieces and dissolving, slowly moving down until the whole forest was gone. "Why did you kill her?" Ayumu asked. She didn't know where this story was going and she didn't like it, but if it would answer her questions she would listen.

"She was holding me back," Haningyotsukai replied. The ground gave a great rumble. It began to splinter and rise, and soon it appeared that the whole world consisted of pieces of falling rock. "With all of the soul slayers I had taken, I was getting stronger and stronger. I began to recognize how limited my power was if I could only use those she chose to defeat. At that time the soul slayers of dead shinigami roamed on their own, invisible to all but each-other. Once I was free, I hunted them down, all of them. And I got stronger. I started to recognize that if a shinigami was killed at the peak of their power their soul slayer would be more potent. I started to pull strings. I led shinigami with particularly interesting shikai to achieve bankai, and then killed them. And again, I got stronger. I developed a new ability: I became able to see the full extent of a soul slayer's power. First, I saw what each person's power worked. Soon after I could bankai in shinigami that had already achieved shikai. Then, I saw it in students that were working toward shikai. Then, eventually, I began to see the potential for the soul slayer of any human with a shred of spirit power. I started killing certain humans, in the hopes that when they went to soul society they would become shinigami and I would be able to harness their power. But I hit a snag: apparently for a human being killed by a soul slayer hinders one's ability to create one, and decreases its power. I couldn't have that. I started recruiting other demons to do my bidding."  
"...and that's what you needed kitsune for." As though it had happened when she was not looking, the scene had reformed itself. They were now in an all-too-familiar forest clearing, with an all-too-familiar happy family approaching.

"Yes," Haningyotsukai replied. "When I came across you I could immediately tell that Chitose would be the most powerful soul slayer that I had ever seen, of course meaning the most powerful ever. Her shikai would increase my power and the power of each soul slayer I had stolen by 1000, and her bankai would allow me to replicate myself infinitely. I had to have her."  
"But that wasn't me! I don't know why that girl had Chitose, but-"

"Don't interrupt, it's rude. So," she went on. The trees seemed to blur past as they slid to a place almost 10 yards from the clearing. "I had kitsune kill you." A red, smoke-like creature slithered along the forest floor, killing any plants that were near it. It was soon followed by another. Looking around, she saw Haningyotsukai, almost exactly as she was today, and kitsune. She was not in her human form, but in the sleek fox form that many would have mistaken for a hollow. "I sensed something in you, a particularly strong life force. I thought that perhaps you wouldn't die easily, that you would need some persuasion. So I told kitsune that once Kagemi was dead, to send her away. I would deal with her later. Then, look," She said. Ayumu looked back toward the clearing. Chitose had just killed kitsune's smoke creature. "Your life force was stronger than I had anticipated. In those final moments, you decided to fight, and your power changed. You became specialized to fight demons. It made you stronger, yes, but it would also make things more difficult. When you died, your spirit seemed to vanish. It hadn't completely disappeared, I realized, but instead simply gotten further away very quickly, and not in terms of space. Something had happened that I had never seen before: reincarnation. You would be reborn along your own family line. So you see, you really were the same person," she said. Ayumu said nothing, but looked on in shock at the dead bodies in the clearing wondering if she could believe that one of them had been hers. Yes, she realized, she could. Quite honestly, she had always known that a dead body's worth of extra weight wouldn't be enough to stop her. "Of course, that was when the boy showed up," right on cue, the four-year-old Hitsugaya burst into the clearing. "His power wasn't bad," she said.

"Kill him too," The memory of Haningyotsukai said.

Kitsune breathed out another of the smoke creatures, and then watched as it attacked Hitsugaya. "Hm, he's funny," she cooed, swishing her tails back and forth playfully.

"Of course, I was dismayed to find that he would have been reincarnated just like you were he not the last in his family line," the modern Haningyotsukai said.  
"Hey, can I play with him for a bit?" Kitsune asked.

"Do whatever you want," the memory of Haningyotsukai replied.

"I knew I had some time," the modern Haningyotsukai explained. "I could tell that it would take you a few hundred years at least to recover the strength you needed to be reborn. I had seen your new powers, and I began to formulate a plan. That gourd that you used to purify demons was part of your soul, you see. For an ordinary demon the atmosphere in there would be too oppressive to even move, but I was no ordinary demon. By breaking out of it, I could take a part of your soul with me as I escaped. And since the gourd is directly connected to the soul slayer, that would make it even easier." The scenery began to break apart again. "I had seen Kagemi's power as well. If I turned her into a demon (that is to say, not a shinigami) then I would never be able to use it, but it didn't do much when wielded by me anyway. I decided to cultivate her powers for her to use them on her own, without a soul slayer. Then, by manipulating her, I could use the full effect. I gave her 15 days to wander, letting her wonder what had happened to you." The shifted back into existance. They were miles away, at the edge of a lake created by a waterfall.

Kagemi cowered beneath a tree as the memory of Haningyotsukai approached. "Don't be afraid," she said, in a very convincing kindly tone, "I'm not going to hurt you. I saw what just happened. I tried to save you. I'm sorry I was too late. Don't worry though. I found the one who did this to you. Look," she paused. The blades that made up her upper chest parted slightly, she reached in, and took something out. It looked like a glass ball, the size of a large marble. Inside of it, red and gold flames danced. "I've taken her jewel. She can't live without this. I'm going to make her make this right. You're sister-"

"Ayumu?" Kagemi asked suddenly, grabbing Haningyotsukai's arm. Apparently she had already placed complete trust in her. "What happened to her? Where is she?"  
"...I'm afraid that the shinigami have taken her as one of their own. They are vile and disgusting creatures, but they have tricked her and made her join their side. She will be reborn as one of them."

"Remember, back then shinigami were still thought of as monsters that went around causing disasters," the modern Haningyotsukai commented.

"N-no... how- isn't there something I can do?" Kagemi asked desperately.  
"Don't worry. I have a plan. Once a shinigami is stripped of their soul slayer they return to being a human. I can do that. If you want to help me, I can restore your sister to the way she was."

"As you can see, winning her over was easy," the modern Haningyotsukai said. The world began to crumble again. "After that, I sent the demon world into hiding. If you were designed to fight demons, the shock of them suddenly appearing would make your power explode. I trained Kagemi, and taught her to hate shinigami. I had her take over the job of killing those who would make me stronger. And I awaited your reappearance. Then, finally, I felt your spirit force again. I sent kitsune to make sure that you had retained your power. The answer was obvious. Your reaction to her spirit force was spectacular. Without a drop of developed power and not even the slightest inkling of what a shinigami was, you bodily threw yourself in front of a complete stranger to protect her. Of course, I had carefully timed the incident, and that was no random stranger: it was Emma Quasar, daughter of the captain and vice-captain of the American fourth squad. I could tell that what you needed for your powers to reawaken was to be cut by a soul slayer, but I couldn't very well just do it myself. So, by getting you involved with the American death god world, I presented every opportunity for that. I possessed Anna to oversee your training. But American death gods are less likely to have cutting-type soul slayers for some reason, something to do with the culture, and of the few that did none were at a high enough level to even get close to cutting you in training. I became impatient. I possessed your father's manager and had him transfer him to Japan. I knew the boy would have followed the same path, he would know that you needed to be cut. And he did. And soon after that, I enacted my plan."

Ayumu had been watching the crumbling rocks from the ground slowly float past in midair, but now she realized that she was falling too. She reached up for anything to grab, and caught a slab of concrete. _The top of a building?_ Looking around, she saw that she was now hanging from the roof of her school building. On the ground in front of the school she and Hitsugaya were fending off the black creatures that Kagemi had produced. Suddenly, the first demon they had fought appeared few meters away on the rooftop. "I made a gegai for myself, and played the role of a weak demon. I used spirit force that I had stolen from other demons over the years to mix up one that might suit my false persona, and released it to make you nervous." By this time, on the ground the three of them were battling. "I hid one of Kagemi's creatures in the gegai with me, and I released it to make it seem like I had created them." At this point the older version of Haningyotsukai opened her palms toward the Ayumu fighting on the ground, and a creature came charging out of them. "I intentionally displayed weakness," she continued. On the ground, her gegai received a slash along the cheek. "I provided you with motivation," the gegai used the razor-like nails that had just burst from its fingers (which Ayumu now realized were Haningyotsukai's actual fingers ripping out from the fake body) to give Hitsugaya a slash on the chest. "And, you responded." The fighting version of Ayumu released bankai for the first time. "I let you suck me into the gourd, it was after all exactly where I wanted to be."

The world disintegrated again. Ayumu found that her feet were still not supported, and kept her handhold even as the building around her shattered. "Of course, your gourd being a part of your soul, destroying it would seriously effect you. Even the slightest scratch on the wall's surface would cause massive fluctuations in your spirit force and give you the feeling of having lost a lot of blood. At that point if you had discovered my intention you might have been able to reinforce the gourd, perhaps even enough to stop me. So," She motioned for Ayumu to look at something, and Ayumu noticed that the world had reformed. The hand that supported her was now clinging to a window ledge. "I provided a false explanation for your symptoms." Only a meter or so away, kitsune was ramming a dagger between Ayumu's ribs. "I gave one of the weakest soul slayers I had to her. I could still sense the presence of a soul slayer from in side the gourd, especially once it cut you. And as soon as it did, I started on the wall. It didn't take you long to realize that there was something wrong other than ordinary blood loss. I told her to mention it in reference to something else, as nonchalantly as possible. I could monitor the battle by watching from her jewel. Although she did anger me a little, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better job."

The memory version of Ayumu currently lunging toward kitsune lost her footing in the sky and fell a short way before catching herself. "What did you do to me?" she asked, steadying herself.

"I wonder. Maybe you're just realizing what it is to be cut, hmm?" kitsune had replied with a playful chuckle. The memory of Ayumu aimed a spinning kick at kitsune, who continued "Or maybe you shouldn't move around so much, you'll make that poison spread faster!" and began to laugh, for all the world like she meant it.

"Of course, she never did like me. She teased me at the beginning there for an instant, getting close to the truth like that. Because you see, it was me cutting you from the inside that you had felt, there wasn't really any poison. But she knew that she couldn't betray me, and in the end she came through flawlessly. This way, you would never doubt the poison theory. All that was left now was for her to be defeated by you and be sucked into the gourd with me. Of course, she almost made a fatal mistake there too. She had underestimated the boy. He almost interfered there. But fortunately, none of you had counted on our plan, and you ended up taking her after all."

"You can finish her off. I've already defeated her," Hitsugaya's memory said. Then, he shattered along with the rest of the world. Once again, Ayumu was falling from her vanishing handhold.

"Of course, that was all luck, but I suppose one could say it worked out well for me. Of course, kitsune was quite the brash one, and she made a few swipes at the wall herself. Of course, only the first succeeded. I believe you were talking to the boy at the time," The world reformed, but not even for long enough for her to catch her balance. The moment only lasted long enough to show her the attack she had just after she had spoken to Kotarou and recalled the first Ayumu's—her own death. She watched herself collapse on the floor of Hitsugaya's office, then the world broke again.

"All I needed then was for you to bring Kagemi into the gourd. You see, in case you caught on and tried to reinforce the gourd I needed something to back me up. Over the years I had collected a few soul-slayers with a spirit force absorbing ability, I intended to use Kagemi and kitsune as a source of extra energy should my own power prove inadequate. Of course this turned out to be unnecessary and I had predicted as much, but I still wanted to have a back up and I couldn't go back on my plan. I knew you would go back to your old house, I had her wait there for you. But you were taking quite a time of meeting her there. You must have had memories from your last life, perhaps you just needed something to make you wonder about them. I sent you something to remind you of the only life you should have known."

Ayumu hadn't noticed that the world had reformed around them until she heard her own memory speak. "...but Hitsugaya."

"What?"

"We have to go back to that place."

"What place?"

"Where those girls lived."

"As you can see, this was extremely effective," Haningyotsukai continued. "You returned to the house as soon as you could. And she was waiting." This time, Ayumu barely had time to notice the world crumbling before she turned her head and saw herself fighting with Kagemi. Each time they lashed out, the blow softened just before it struck. "At first you two almost believed that you wouldn't be able to hurt each-other. But I had spent 500 years telling her every day that this was the right thing to do, that she was actually saving you. I don't know if she really believed that my plan was the only way until she saw you. But when she saw you in that uniform, she thought that she finally understood the situation. Poor girl. Her sacrifice ended up leading to your destruction. And hers. With the three of us in the gourd, I was now assured of my success. I began to speed up. And soon-" a splatter of blood landed on the concrete in front of them. _Concrete?_ This time Ayumu hadn't even noticed the shift. They were in the park, at night, witnessing a scene that had taken place just... what? Ayumu had no idea how long she had been here. She found her breath catching in her throat. She turned her head, and looked at the scene. The gourd charm on Chitose's hilt had just shattered. "...I broke out." Kitsune, Kagemi, and Haningyotsukai (still in her ripped gegai) had escaped.

"You..." Kagemi began, "You said... you said that she wouldn't be hurt... you said we'd just fix her, and then she's be ok..."

"I always knew that at this stage we would have to kill Kagemi. There would simply be no escaping our true intention, and once she realized we meant you harm she would do everything in her power to stop us. And of course, there was no more reason to keep her alive. She was more beneficial to me dead. Or rather, in a different state. I had decided how to deal with her a long time ago. That substance-" she said, as kitsune took out a vial of red liquid "-is the blood from a member of an extinct demon clan. Exposure to it maximizes one's power and simultaneously destroys their mind. She became nothing but a copying machine. I instructed kitsune to use her to make copies of herself and kill as many shinigami as possible, so that I could then take their soul slayers. I've had my eye on Zangetsu for quite a while, I sent my own spirit body to attend to that. But notice, I say spirit body because it wasn't the real me. What I sent to kill Kurosaki Ichigo was my power: the compilation of the soul slayers that I've stolen in the past. The real me is right here. When I escaped, I left the one sword that really mattered, the original blade that was me, here in your soul. When you die, I will collect Chitose, rejoin my body, and finally have complete control over my ultimate power. And..."

There was a great slam. It echoed through Ayumu's bones and knocked her to the ground. They were back in the red world. "...that won't be long now." Ayumu looked up at Haningyotsukai. She grinned against the red sky. "Did you notice?" She went on. "You're slowing. You haven't noticed the last few transitions between the memories I showed you. I bet subconsciously you even know what this place is." She paused for a moment and looked at a ground littered with bones. "This place is a part of your soul. It's..." She bent down and picked up Anna's corpse. "...the 'graveyard'." She dropped the corpse. "Try to get up." She hesitated for a second, as though waiting for Ayumu to comply. And she did try. Only... "You can't move. You can barely even breathe." Ayumu was amazed at the amount of energy it took to grit her teeth. "Look at yourself. This is just a spiritual representation of you, and even it has barely any blood left in it. Deep in your bones, you know... you're dying." She stepped forward, and placed a foot on Ayumu's neck. "You know what's happened. You see how badly you've been beaten. You must be tired. Why struggle? If your body feels too heavy to carry on, then don't. Why don't you just-" She stepped down, intending to break Ayumu's spine "-give up?"

"Why... don't you?" despite the force applied, Ayumu's neck simply refused to break. There was a rush of power, and the red world turned white. The shadows and colors disappeared. Everything was defined now by only bold outlines, smeared by spikes of spirit power. Haningyotsukai was blasted back and upward. Once she touched back down, even digging her heels and one hand into the ground for traction she still slid a great ways. Slowly, Ayumu stood up. "So... I'm a little... out of breath. Maybe I... lost some blood... or feel some pain. You sound like... that means... I should stop trying. This fight... is still... wide open! You... have as much... reason to give up... as I do. Maybe... it _is_ you who should give up... because I'm... not gonna disappear!"

Ayumu launched herself at Haningyotsukai. Her shinigami uniform returned, haori and all. She brought her fist down in a slashing motion, and Haningyotsukai instinctively held up her arm to block. _I-impossible!_ There was a clang, and Haningyotsukai's forearm was met by Chitose. Ayumu pushed forward, and Chitose cut through Haningyotsukai's arm as though there was barely any resistance. Once again, Haningyotsukai slid back. "H-how-?"

"For all your planning, you don't understand. It doesn't matter. Even if I'm injured-" Ayumu spoke calmly, her breathlessness gone "-even if I'm dead-" she drew Chitose back "-I just have to win anyway." Somehow, she had closed the distance between them, and now had the tip of Chitose's blade angled at Haningyotsukai's throat. "Right?" She plunged the sword in. There was a moment of stillness, then a great crack as Haningyotsukai was reduced to thousands of flying shards of metal.

There was a _clink_, and the chains holding Chitose shattered as well. The shadows and colors returned to the graveyard. As the phoenix circled down to her, Ayumu noticed the she held something in her left hand. She looked down at it. It was her comb. She smiled. Even though her enemy was defeated and she was still injured, she did not allow herself to indulge in a moment of weakness. Tucking her comb back into her hair, she looked up. "Let's go, Chitose."

X

A/N-How awesome was THAT? If you still have questions, I can officially answer them now.


End file.
